
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. 



The Silver Series of English Classics 

SHAKESPEARE'S TRAGEDY 



MACBETH 



EDITED FOR SCHOOL USE 

BY 

FRED LEWIS PATTEE 

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH AND RHETORIC IN THE PENNSYLVANIA 

STATE COLLEGE 

AUTHOR OF "A HISTORY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE" AND 

"READING COURSES IN AMERICAN LITERATURE" 




v 

SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY 

New York BOSTON Chicago 

1897 



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Copyright, 1897, 
By SILVER, BURDETT & COMPANY 



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J. S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith 
Norwood Mass. U.S.A. 



PREFACE. IX 

upon the art, the spirit, the characters, and the movement 
of the play, which, if properly answered, cannot fail to 
arouse the critical faculties of the student and to sharpen 
his powers of observation and appreciation. As far as 
possible I have arranged the questions so that he shall 
seem to be making independent discoveries, become eager 
and enthusiastic in his work, and, in the end, appreciate 
the problems and characters presented and the art that 
gave them life. 

The student should provide himself with a note-book 
and should answer fully each question, noting down all 
insuperable difficulties and all suggested questions. The 
first half of every recitation should be given to a reading 
of these answers and a discussion of them, together with 
the difficulties and suggested questions. I have added 
at the close of the questions on each act a short list of 
references to important criticisms. If these are read 
aloud by the teacher after the questions have all been 
answered, they will, I can assure any one, be listened 
to with eager attention. These criticisms are by no means 
exhaustive, nor the best that might be selected from the 
great mass of Shakespearean criticism ; they are, however, 
the best to be found in the limited list of books usually 
accessible in schools. 

I desire to thank first of all Mr. John Foster Kirk for 
permitting me to use a selection from his scholarly essay 
on Macbeth, and Dr. H. H. Furness who threw open his 
great treasure-house, The New Variorum Shakespeare, for 
me to choose what I would. Thanks- are also due Messrs. 
Harper & Brothers for permitting the use of Dr. Eolfe's 



x PREFACE. 

text, which I have changed but little; to Ginn & Co. for 
quotations from Hudson's edition ; to D. C. Heath & Co. 
for the use of their admirable Arden Shakespeare, and to 
Dr. Sprague, whose scholarly work, published by Silver, 
Burdett & Company, has been a constant help. 

Fred Lewis Pattee. 
June. 1897. 



PKEFACE. 

Before adding this new leaf to the Vallombrosa of 
Shakespeare editions I wish, not to apologize, but to ex- 
plain. First of all, the book has been prepared for actual 
class-room use, — for that vast circle of youthful students 
who, for the next few years, as our college entrance re- 
quirements are now arranged, will make with Macbeth 
their first real acquaintance with Shakespeare, and for 
those college classes that can take the time to make 
a thorough study of an English classic. No attempt 
has 1 3en made to add to the accumulations of Shake- 
spearean scholarship, nor to digest and collate the eru- 
dition of other editors and critics ; but the aim has been 
pedagogical almost solely. I have tried constantly to 
stimulate the curiosity and the critical faculties of the 
student, and to point the way for him rather than to 
carry him bodily along. 

It has been a theory which has dominated my teaching 
of the English classics, and which has furnished the plan 
for this present book, that to obtain the best results 
from the study of any masterpiece of literature one 
must take three distinct steps. First, he should read 
the work through, at one sitting if possible, to get the 
story and to be able to look at it as a unit; second, he 
should read it at least once again, so carefully that he 

v 



VI PREFACE. 

will understand each word and line of the text ; and third, 
he should go over it yet again, studying, its parts critically 
and comparatively. 

It is for the second of these steps that the footnotes 
have been added. It is often hard for the teacher who 
has read widely, and who has an intimate acquaintance 
with some of Shakespeare's works, to realize the meager 
equipment of the average student when he is called upon 
to study a masterpiece of Elizabethan literature. Shake- 
speare's language is full of dark places to one who knows 
little save the spoken vocabulary of e very-day life. Many 
lines and even passages of the author are well-nigh unin- 
telligible even to the most experienced editors; manifestly, 
then, unless care is taken, the average student will conclude 
that the work is another lifeless grinding of something 
hard to understand, and therefore devoid of anything that 
will bring entertainment or pleasure. 

In my notes, which, for convenience of reference, 
have been placed under the text, I have endeavored to 
make clear those things upon which the young student is 
almost sure to stumble. I have done nothing with philo- 
logical study; I have explained very few of the histor- 
ical and general allusions ; I have commented not at all. 
My one endeavor has been to enable the student to 
grasp the bare meaning of the text. It should be the 
teacher's constant care to see that no word or line is 
passed over until its meaning is as clear as possible. 
There should be constant and conscientious drill in the 
vocalization of the lines. Hudson, for instance, punctuates 
one passage as follows : 



PREFACE. Vll 

" Blood hath been shed ere now : i' the olden time 
Ere humane statute purged the gentle weal, 
Ay, and since too, murders have been perform' d 
Too terrible for the ear." 

How shall this be read ? The student who can vocalize 
this passage correctly understands the meaning conveyed. 
Beading, then, is one of the supreme tests. 

After the student has become familiar with the story, and 
after he understands fully the meaning of all the lines, it 
is time for the third step, — the critical study of the work. 
All that has been clone has been but preparatory for this 
end; yet strangely enough many pupils never get to the 
third stage at all. They are made to study the unusual 
words historically and philologically ; they are set to trac- 
ing the origin of each episode in the plot, and to account- 
ing for all the raw materials used in its construction. For 
a short time they are able to descant learnedly on all 
allusions to historical, geographical, or curious lore. 

]STo better way could be devised for making the ordi- 
nary student loathe the study, and renounce Shakespeare 
and all his works. It is like getting at the poetry and 
romance of the skylark and the nightingale by dissecting 
the dead bodies of the birds. If the student can learn 
to feel the thrill, the passion, the frenzy of Lear ; if he 
can come to appreciate the marvelous contrasts, the fine 
discriminations, the subtle characterizations of Macbeth; 
if he can learn to throw back the almost impalpable veil 
with which art conceals art, why should we require him 
to burrow in the dust heaps of Holinshed, or to lose the 
glow of his enthusiasm in the perfunctory pursuit of 



Vlll PREFA CE. 

archaisms and antiquities ? These things will be in place 
later on, when the student has oriented himself and has 
determined to make an exhaustive study of his author; 
but for the beginner " the letter killeth, but the spirit 
giveth life." 

Another fault that I have endeavored to avoid is that of 
over-annotation. The tragedy of Macbeth has been studied 
so exhaustively, and so many critics of the highest rank 
have reviewed it, that it would be possible to quote bril- 
liant expositions and critical studies of almost every 
line. The temptation to say too much, to quote too much, 
and thus do the student's work for him, is almost irresisti- 
ble, and too many editors of school editions have yielded to 
it. The pupil who has at hand a ready-made set of obser- 
vations and elucidations for every step of his work, is 
unable to do anything original. He is filled with the 
opinions and discoveries of others until he is water-logged 
and powerless. " To sit as a passive bucket," says Carlyle, 
"and be pumped into whether you consent or not, can in 
the long run be exhilarating to no creature." 

After all, the Chief apparatus of any critic is the bare 
text. No one is in a position to say the last word concern- 
ing anything Shakespearean. The most that can be done is 
to express an opinion, fortifying it as strongly as possible, 
and the student has as much right to his own opinion, 
provided he can defend it thoughtfully, as has the pro- 
foundest scholar. 

It has been my aim constantly to stimulate the student 
to independent effort. To this end, under the head of 
Studies, I have arranged a series of suggestive questions 



INTRODUCTION. 

" There is a brief mention in the Life of Macaulay of 
a discussion among some members of the Literary Clnb as to 
the relative ranks of Shakespeare's four great tragedies — 
Lear, Othello, Macbeth, and Hamlet. This is the order in 
which they were ranked by Macaulay. The other speakers, 
however, agreed in assigning the highest place to Macbeth, 
a preference which Macaulay attributed to the powerful im- 
pression produced by Mrs. Siddons in her famous personifi- 
cation of Lady Macbeth. But many persons who never saw 
Mrs. Siddons, and who perhaps formed their judgment 
merely from reading the play, have taken the same view ; 
and it is one in which all readers might concur if they con- 
fined their attention to the dramatic construction of the 
work, and looked at it simply as the production of a con- 
summate playwright. In this respect it is undoubtedly 
the author's masterpiece. It may be called a typical Eliza- 
bethan drama, in the same sense in which the (Edipus 
Tyrannus has been called a typical Greek drama ; bearing 
the same analogy, though not the same resemblance, to that 
which King Lear bears to the (Edipus Coloneus. It is dis- 
tinguished by the concentration and rapid movement of 
the action, by the logical development of the plot from the 
initiatory situation to the inevitable conclusion, and by the 
absence of subordinate complications and of everything par- 



Xll INTRODUCTION. 

taking of the nature of digression, episode, or commentary. 
It is the shortest of the great tragedies, with the fewest 
changes of scene, the smallest number of important charac- 
ters, and the most concise speeches. Alike in soliloquy and 
in dialogue, the utterance is constantly connected with or 
suggestive of some external movement or perception, so 
that here, at least, the performers should find little diffi- 
culty in suiting the action to the word, the word to the 
action. Finally, the ' effects ' are in the highest degree 
' telling,' full of strong contrasts and swift alternations, 
such as hold an audience in a state of breathless suspense, 
or startle it as with a sudden crash. 

" These peculiarities, coupled with some incidental defects 
in the literary workmanship, have suggested a theory that 
the play was written in haste, for a particular occasion. 
That it was struck off, so to speak, at a white heat is highly 
probable ; but the subject was one which imposed a purely 
dramatic treatment, and did not lend itself to that expan- 
sive and discursive elaboration with which Shakespeare is 
wont to pour forth his profoundest thoughts, his subtlest 
observations, his most bewitching fancies, and his sweetest 
flow of verse, in passages which we study and are enthralled 
by in the closet, but which the modern stage so often finds 
it necessary to mutilate or excise. . . . 

" One might have expected that Macbeth would prove the 
most popular of Shakespeare's tragedies, both with actors 
and with audiences, and especially in these later times, 
when there is a complete divorce between the drama and 
literature properly so called ; when plays are not only 
written exclusively for representation, but have no vitality 



INTRODUCTION. xiii 

apart from that. Such has not, however, been the case. 
Except on rare occasions Macbeth, despite its apparent su- 
premacy as an acting play, has less attraction than Lear, 
Othello, and above all, Hamlet. Nor is the reason far 
to seek. Of the two elements which Aristotle's definition 
requires in tragedy, it has but one. It works by terror 
alone, and does not touch the springs of pity. It has no 
bursts and swells of pathos, no outpours of tenderness, no 
sweet dews of hapless love. Lacking these, it lacks charm. 
The characters on whom the interest is concentrated are not 
the innocent sufferers, but the guilty workers of woe, and, if 
not outcasts from our sympathy in the woe they hereby 
bring upon themselves, they are far from making any de- 
mands upon our affection. Macbeth stands alone among 
Shakespeare's great productions as a picture of crime and 
retribution unrelieved by any softer features, — like some 
awful Alpine peak, girdled with glaciers, abysses, and 
seething mists, with no glimpses of green vales or flower- 
bespangled pastures." — John Foster Kirk in The Atlantic 
Monthly. 



AUTHORITIES. 

The following list of authorities on Macbeth seems to me to be 
the minimum one that any well-ordered school library should con- 
tain. There are, of course, a vast number of other books upon the 
subject, many of them of extreme value, but, as it is not possible 
to aim at anything like completeness in such a library, I have 
chosen only a few of the best helps to actual class-room work. 
For a more complete list, see Funiess. 

Abbott. Shakespearian Grammar. The Macmillan Company, 1891. 
Chambers, Macbeth, The Arden Shakespeare. D. C. Heath & Co., 

1896. 
Clark and Wright, Macbeth. Clarendon Press Series, The Mac- 
millan Company, 1894. 
Coleridge, Lectures and Notes on Shakspeare. Bonn's Library, 

1890. 
Deightox, Macbeth. The Macmillan Company, 1896. 
Dowdex, Shakspere; his Mind and Art. Harper & Brothers, 3d 

edition. 
Dowdex, Shakspere. Literature Primers Series, American Book 

Company. 
Furxess, Macbeth. Variorum Edition, J. B. Lippincott Companv, 

1873. 
Gervixus, Shakespeare Commentaries, translated by Bunnett. 

1883. 
Hudsox, Macbeth. Ginn & Co., 1888. 

Hudsox, Shakespeare ; his Life, Art, and Characters. Ginn & Co. 
Mrs. Jamesox, Characteristics of Women. Bohn's Library, 1891. 
Motjltox, Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist. Clarendon Press, 1893. 
Raxsome, Short Studies in Shakespeare's Plots. The Macmillan 

Company, 1893. 
Rolfe, Macbeth. English Classics Edition, Harper & Brothers, 

1894. 
Shakespeare's Complete Works. Globe Edition. 
Sprague. Macbeth. Studies in English Classics, Silver, Burdett 

& Company, 1894. 
Wendell, William Shakspere. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1895. 

xiv 



THE TRAGEDY 



MACBETH. 



MACBETH. 



:>XX< 



PERSONS REPRESENTED. 



noblemen of Scotland. 



Duncan, King of Scotland. 
Malcolm, J his sons . 

DONALBAIN, 1 

Macbeth, j generals of his army- 

Banquo, ) & 

Macduff, 

Lennox, 

Ross, 

Menteith, 

Angus, 

Caithness, 

Fleance, son to Banquo. 

Siward, Earl of Northumberland, 

general of the English forces. 
Young Siward, his son. 
Seyton, an officer attending on 

Macbeth. 



Boy, son to Macduff. 

An English Doctor. 

A Scotch Doctor. 

A Sergeant. 

A Porter. 

An Old Man. 

Lady Macbeth. 

Lady Macduff. 

Gentlewoman attending on Lady 

Macbeth. 
Hecate. 
Three Witches. 
Apparitions. 

Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Sol- 
diers, Murderers, Attendants, 
and Messengers. 



Scene: Scotland; England. 

ACT I. 

Scene I. — A Desert Place. 
Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches. 

First Witch. When shall we three meet again 
In thunder, lightning, and in rain ? 

Second Witch. When the hurly-burly 's * done, 
When the battle 's lost and won. 



Act I., Scene I. — 1 Hurly-burly = uproar, tumult. Referring to the 
attle then in progress. 



2 MACBETH. [ACT I. 

Third Witch. That will be ere the set of sun. 5 

First Witch. Where the place ? 
Second Witch. Upon the heath. 

r Hi i rd Witch. There to meet with Macbeth. 
First Witch. I come, Graymalkin ! 2 
/Second Witch. Paddock 3 calls. 
Third Witch. Anon. 4 

All. Fair is foul, and foul is fair : 10 

I lover through the fog and filthy air. [Exeunt. 

Scene II. — A Camp near Forres. 

Alarum within. Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, 
Lennox, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Sergeant. 

Duncan. What bloody man is that? He can report, 
As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt 
The newest state. 1 

Malcolm. This is the sergeant 

Who like a good and hardy soldier fought 
'Gainst my captivity. — Hail, brave friend ! 5 

Say to the king the knowledge of the broil 
As thou didst leave it. 
' Sergeant. Doubtful it stood, 

As two spent swimmers that do cling together 
And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald — 
Worthy to be a rebel, for to that 2 10 

The multiplying villanies of nature 
Do swarm upon him — from the western isles 
Of kerns 3 and gallowglasses 4 is supplied ; 

2 Graymalkin — gray cat. s Paddock = toad. 

4 Anon = presently. Witches were supposed to be attended by familiar 
spirits in the form of certain animals, whose orders they were bound to obey. 
Scene II. — 1 The newest state = the latest news. 

2 For to that — for to that very end. 

3 Kerns = light-armed Irish infantry. 

4 Gallowglasses = heavy-armed Irish soldiers. 



SCENE II.] MACBETH. 3 

And Fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling, 

Show'd like a rebel's trull : but all's too weak ; 15 

For brave Macbeth — well he deserves that name — 

Disdaining Fortune, with his brandish'd steel, 

Which smok'd with bloody execution, 

Like valour's minion 5 carv'd out his passage 

Till he fac'd the slave ; 2 c 

And 6 ne'er shook hands, 7 nor bade farewell to him, 

Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, 8 

And fix'd his head upon our battlements. 

Duncan. valiant cousin ! 9 worthy gentleman ! 

Sergeant. As whence 10 the sun gins his reflection 25 

Shipwracking storms and direful thunders break, 
So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to come 
Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland, mark : 
No sooner justice had with valour arm'd 
Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels, 30 

But the Norweyan lord, 11 'surveying vantage, 
With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men 
Began a fresh assault. 

Duncan. Dismay'd not this 

Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo ? 

Sergeant. Yes ; 

As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. 35 

If I say sooth, 12 1 must report they were 
As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks, so they 
Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe : 

5 Minion = favorite. 

6 And. The folios have " which." 

7 Shook hands. The signal for parting. 

8 From the nave to the chaps = from the navel to the chin. 

9 Cousin. Duncan and Macheth were first cousins. 

10 As ivhence the sun, etc. Just as storms often come out of the east 
where the warm, bright sun arises, so, even at this joyous time of victory, 
a great danger came. 

11 Having overcome a domestic insurrection, Macbeth is on the same 
day forced to meet an invading foreign army. 

12 Sooth = true. 



4 MACBETH. [ACT I. 

Except 13 they meant to bathe in reeking wounds, 

Or memorize another Golgotha, 4 o 

I cannot tell — 

But I am faint, my gashes cry for help. 

Duncan. So well thy words become thee as thy wounds ; 
They smack of honour both. — Go get him surgeons. 

[Exit Sergeant, attended. 
Who comes here ? 

Enter Ross. 

Malcolm. The worthy thane H of Ross. 45 

Lennox. What a haste looks through his eyes ! So should 
he look 
That seems to speak things strange. 

Ross. God save the king ! 

Duncan. Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane? 

Ross. From Fife, great king ; 

Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky 
And fan our people cold. Norway himself, 50 

With terrible numbers, 
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor, 
The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict ; 
Till that Bellona's bridegroom, 15 lapp'd in proof, 16 
Confronted him with self-comparisons 17 55 

Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm, 
Curbing his lavish spirit : and, to conclude, 
The victory fell on us. 

Duncan. Great happiness ! 

13 Except = unless. 

14 Thane = " An Anglo-Saxon nobleman inferior in rank to an earl or 
alderman." — Bosworth, quotedby Furness. 

15 Bellona's bridegroom = Macbeth. Bellona was the Roman goddess of 
war. 

16 Lapp'd in proof = cased in armor. 

17 Confronted him with self -comparisons, etc. Confronted him with a 
valor that was the counterpart of his own, his sword matched with the 
rebel's sword, etc. 



SCENE III.] MACBETH. 5 

Boss. That 18 now 

Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition ; 19 
Nor would we deign him burial of his men 60 

Till he disbursed at Saint Colme's Inch 20 
Ten thousand dollars to onr general use. 

Duncan. No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive 
Our bosom interest : go pronounce his present death, 
And with his former title greet Macbeth. 65 

Boss. I '11 see it done. 

Duncan. What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won. 

[Exeunt. 

Scene III. — A Heath. 

Thunder. Enter the three Witches. 

First Witch. Where hast thou been, sister ? 

Second Witch. Killing swine. 

Third Witch. Sister, where thou ? 

First Witch. A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap, 
And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch' d. ' Give me,' 
quoth 1 : 5 

' Aroint thee, witch ! ' the rump-fed ronyon 1 cries. 
Her husband 's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger : 
But in a sieve I '11 thither sail, 
And, like a rat without a tail, 2 
I '11 do, I '11 do, and I '11 do. 3 

Second Witch. I '11 give thee a wind. 

First Witch. Thou 'rt kind. 

Third Witch. And I another. 

18 That = so that. 

19 Composition = terms of peace. 

20 Saint Colme's Inch = the island Inchcomb in the Firth of Forth near 
Edinburgh. 

> Scene III. — 1 Ronyon = a mangy person. A term of abuse. 

2 And, like a rat without a tail. It was believed that witches could 
assume the form of any animal they wished, but in every case the tail 
would be missing. 

3 I'll do = I '11 gnaw a hole in the bottom of the ship and spring a leak. 



6 MACBETH. [ACT I. 

First Witch. I myself have all the other, 
And the very points they blow, 15 

All the quarters that they know 
I' the shipman's card. 
I '11 drain him dry as hay : 
Sleep shall neither night nor day 

Hang upon his pent-house lid ; 20 

He shall live a man forbid : 
Weary se'nnights nine times nine 
Shall he dwindle, peak, 4 and pine : 
Though his bark cannot be lost, 

Yet it shall be tempest-tost. 25 

Look what I have. 

Second Witch. Show me, show me. 

First Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, 
Wrack'd as homeward he did come. [Drmn ivithin. 

TJiircl Witch. A drum, a drum ! 30 

Macbeth doth come. 

All. The weird sisters, hand in hand, 
Posters 5 of the sea and land, 
Thus do go about, about : 

Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, 35 

And thrice again, to make up nine. 
Peace ! the charm 's wound up. 

Filter Macbeth and Banquo. 

Macbeth. So foul and fair a day I have not seen. 

Banquo. How far is 't call'd to Forres ? — What are these 
So wither'd and so wild in their attire, 40 

That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth, 
And yet are on 't ? — Live you ? or are you aught 
That man may question ? You seem to understand me, 
By each at once her choppy finger laying 

4 Peak = grow sharp-featured. 5 Posters = swift travelers. 



SCENE III.] MACBETH. 7 

Upon her skinny lips : yon shonld be women, 45 

And yet yonr beards forbid me to interpret 
That you are so. 

Macbeth. Speak, if yon can : what are you ? 

First Witch. All hail, Macbeth ! hail to thee, thane of 
G-lamis ! 

Second Witch. All hail, Macbeth ! hail to thee, thane of 
Cawdor ! 

Third Witch. All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king here- 
after ! 50 

Banquo. Good sir, why do you start, and seem to fear 
Things that do sound so fair ? — V the name of truth, 
Are ye fantastical, 6 or that indeed 
Which outwardly ye show ? My noble partner 
You greet with present grace and great prediction 55 

Of noble having and of royal hope, 
That he seems rapt withal ; to me you speak not. 
If you can look into the seeds of time, 
And say which grain will grow and which will not, 
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear 60 

Your favours nor your hate. 

First Witch. Hail! 

Second Witch. Hail ! 

Third Witch. Hail! 

First Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 65 

Second Witch. Not so happy, yet much happier. 

Third Witch. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none : 
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo ! 

First Witch. Banquo and Macbeth, all hail ! 

Macbeth. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more : 70 
By Sinel's 7 death I know I am thane of Glamis ; 
But how of Cawdor ? the thane of Cawdor lives, 
A prosperous gentleman ; and to be king 

6 Fantastical = creatures of the imagination. 

7 Sinel, Macbeth's father. 



8 MACBETH. [ACT I. 

Stands not within the prospect of belief, 

No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence 75 

You owe this strange intelligence ? or why 

Upon this blasted heath you stop our way 

With such prophetic greeting? speak, I charge you. 

[ Witches vanish. 

Banquo. The earth hath bubbles as the water has, 
And these are of them. Whither are they vanish'd ? 80 

Macbeth. Into the air ; and what seem'd corporal melted 
As breath into the wind. Would they had stay'd ! 

Banquo. Were such things here as we do speak about ? 
Or have we eaten on the insane root 
That takes the reason prisoner ? 85 

Macbeth. Your children shall be kings. 

Banquo. You shall be king. 

Macbeth. And thane of Cawdor too : went it not so ? 

Banquo. To the selfsame tune and words. Who's here ? 



Enter Ross and A 



NOUS. 



Boss. The king hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth, 
The news of thy success ; and when he reads 90 

Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight, 
His wonders and his praises do contend 
Which should be thine or his : 8 silenc'd with that, 9 
In viewing o'er the rest o' the selfsame day, 
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks, 95 

Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make, 
Strange images of death. As thick as hail 
Came post with post, and every one did bear 
Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence, 
And pour'd them down before him. 

Angus. We are sent 100 

8 His ivonders, etc. He is in doubt as to what he should give to Macbeth 
as praise and what he should withhold to himself as wonder. 

9 Silenc'd xoith that. The problem is too hard aud he is reduced to silence. 



SCENE III.] MACBETH. 9 

To give thee from our royal master thanks ; 
Only to herald thee into his sight, 
Not pay thee. 

Boss. And for an earnest 10 of a greater honour, 
He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor : 105 

In. which addition, hail, most worthy thane ! 
For it is thine. 

Banquo. What, can the devil speak true ? 

Macbeth. The thane of Cawdor lives : why do you dress me 
In borrow'd robes ? 

Angus. Who was the thane lives yet, 

But under heavy judgment bears that life no 

Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combin'd 
With those of Norway, or did line the rebel u 
With hidden help and vantage, or that with both 
He labour' d in his country's wrack, I know not ; 
But treasons capital, confess'd and prov'd, 115 

Have overthrown him. 

Macbeth. [Aside'] Glamis, and thane of Cawdor ! 

The greatest is behind. — Thanks for your pains. — 
Do you not hope your children shall be kings, 
When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me 
Promis'd no less to them ? 

Banquo. That trusted home 120 

Might yet enkindle you unto the crown, 
Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 't is strange : 12 
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, 
The instruments of darkness tell us truths, 
Win us with honest trifles, to betray 's 125 

In deepest consequence. — 
Cousins, 13 a word, I pray you. 

10 Earnest = pledge. 

11 Rebel = Macdonwald. 

12 But 't is strange = But it is a strange piece of business, I confess. 

13 Cousins. They were not necessarily relatives. The word was often 
used in familiar address, especially among nobles. 



10 MACBETH. [ACT l 

Macbeth. [Aside'] Two truths are told, 

As happy prologues to the swelling act 
Of the imperial theme. — I thank you, gentlemen. 
[Aside] This supernatural soliciting i 3 <x 

Cannot be ill, cannot be good : if ill, 
Why hath it given me earnest of success, 
Commencing in a truth ? I am thane of Cawdor : 
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion 14 
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair i 35 

And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, 
Against the use of nature ? Present fears 
Are less than horrible imaginings : 
My thought, whose murther yet is but fantastical, 15 
Shakes so my single state of man that function 16 140 

Is smother'd in surmise, 17 and nothing is 
But what is not. 18 

Banquo. Look how our partner 's rapt. 

Macbeth. [Aside] If chance will have me king, why, 
chance may crown me, 
Without my stir. 

Banquo. New honours come upon him, 

Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould 145 

But with the aid of use. 

Macbeth. [Aside] Come what come may, 

Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. 

Banquo. Worthy Macbeth, we stay 19 upon your leisure. 



14 Suggestion = temptation. 

15 My thought, etc. "My thought, though it is only of a murder in 
imagination or fantasy, so disturbs my feeble manhood of reason," etc. — 
Hudson. 

16 Function — real performance. 

17 Surmise = imagination, conjecture. 

18 And nothing is but what is not. " The visible, tangible, and present 
are as nothing; the invisible, intangible, and future, everything." — 
Sprague. 

19 We stay upon your leisure = we are waiting for you to be at leisure 
to go with us to the king. 






SCENE IV.] MACBETH. 11 

Macbeth. Give me your favour : my dull brain was wrought 
With, things forgotten. 20 Kind gentlemen, your pains 150 
Are register'd where every day I turn 
The leaf to read them. Let us toward the king. — 
Think upon what hath chanc'd, and at more time, 
The interim 21 having weigh'd it, let us speak 
Our free hearts each to other. 

Banquo. Very gladly. 155 

Macbeth. Till then, enough. — Come, friends. [Exeunt. 

Scene IV. — Forres. The Palace. 

Flourish. Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, 

and Attendants. 

Duncan. Is execution done on Cawdor ? Are not 
Those in commission yet return' d ? 

Malcolm. My liege, 

They are not yet come back. But I have spoke 
With one that saw him die, who did report 
That very frankly he confess'd his treasons, 
Implor'd your highness' pardon, and set forth 
A deep repentance : nothing in his life 
Became him like the leaving it ; he died 
As one that had been studied in his death 
To throw away the dearest thing he owed 10 

As 't were a careless trifle. 

Duncan. There 's no art 

To find the mind's construction in the face : 
He was a gentleman on whom I built 
An absolute trust. — 

Enter Macbeth, Banquo, Ross, and Angus. 
worthiest cousin ! 
The sin of my ingratitude even now 15 

20 My dull brain, etc. = I was in a "brown study " trying to recall a 
matter that I could almost remember and yet could not. 

21 Interim — the interval between. 



12 MACBETH. [ACT I. 

Was heavy on me : thou art so far before 

That swiftest wing of recompense is slow 

To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserv'd, 

That the proportion both of thanks and payment 

Might have been mine ! l only I have left to say, 20 

More is thy due than more than all can pay. 

Macbeth. The service and the loyalty I owe, 
In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part 
Is to receive our duties : and our duties 
Are to your throne and state children and servants; 25 

Which do but what they should, by doing everything 
Safe toward your love and honour. 

Duncan. Welcome hither : 

I have begun to plant thee, and will labour 
To make thee full of growing. — Noble Banquo, 
That hast no less deserv'd, nor must be known 30 

No less to have done so, let me infold thee 
And hold thee to my heart. 

Banquo. There if I gr®w, 

The harvest is your own. 

Duncan. My plenteous joys, 

Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves 
In drops of sorrow. — Sons, kinsmen, thanes, 35 

And you whose places are the nearest, know 
We will establish our estate upon 
Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter 
The Prince of Cumberland ; 2 which honour must 
Not unaccompanied invest him only, 4 c 

But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine 
On all deservers. — From hence to Inverness, 
And bind us further to you. 

Scene IV. — 1 That the proportion, etc. That I might have given thee 
more instead of less than thy deserts. 

2 The Scottish crown at that time was elective within certain limits. 
Macbeth, being of the royal line, might hope, with good reason, to be made 
the Prince of Cumberland, which was then the title of the crown prince. 



SCENE V.] MACBETH. 15 

Macbeth. The rest is labour, whitf>ive him tending ; 35 
I '11 be myself the harbinger 4 and mai [Exit Messenger. 

The hearing of my wife with your apjself is hoarse 
So humbly take my leave. m 

Duncan. My worthy its 

Macbeth. [Aside] The Prince of Cumbei"h. e re 
On which I must fall down, or else o'erleLf u n 4& 

For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fh 
Let not light see my black and deep desires 
The eye wink at the hand ; 6 yet let that be 
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. 3I1 

Duncan. True, worthy Banquo : he is full s^ ? 45 

And in his commendations I am fed ; o rs 

It is a banquet to me. Let 's after him, 
Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome : 
It is a peerless kinsman. [Flourish. Exeunt. 

Scene V. — Inverness. A room in Macbeth' s Castle. 

Enter Lady Macbeth, reading a letter. 

Lady Macbeth [Reads]. They met me in the day of success : 
arid I have learned by the perfectest report, they have more in 
them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire to 
question them further, they made themselves air, into which 
they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came 
missives 1 from the king, who all-hailed me ' Thane of Caw- 
dor; ' by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and 
referred me to the coming on of time, with ' Hail, king that 
shalt be I ' This have I thought good to deliver 2 thee, my dearest 
partner of greatness, that thou mightst not lose the dues of re- 

3 The rest is labour, etc. Even our hours of rest we count as labor 
when they are not used for you. 

4 Harbinger — forerunner. 

6 Step, in the sense of a stepping stone. 

6 Wink at f= pretend not to see. 

Scene V. — 1 Missives — messengers. 2 Deliver = report to. 



14 MACBETH. [act I. 

joicing, by being ignorant f w j iat greatness is promised thee. 
Lay it to thy heart, and farewell. 
Glamis thou art, and <Jawdor, and shalt be 
What thou art promi^d. Yet do I fear thy nature ; 
It is too full o' the \\i\\ of human kindness i 5 

To catch the nearer wav . Thou wouldst be great ; 
Art not without ai ibition, but without 
The illness 3 should attend it: what thou wouldst highly, 
That wouldst tW u holily ; wouldst not play false, 
And yet woulds^ wrongly win : thou 'dst have, great Glamis, 
That which cr^s, < Thus thou must do, if thou have it ; ' 21 
And that wlVch rather thou dost fear to do 
Than wisest should be undone. 4 Hie thee hither, 
That J may pour my spirits in thine ear, 
AiU chastise with the valour of my tongue 25 

All that impedes thee from the golden round 
Which fate and metaphysical 5 aid doth seem 
To have thee crown'd withal. 

Enter a Messenger. 

What is your tidings ? 

Messenger. The king comes here to-night. 

Lady Macbeth. Thou 'rt mad to say it : 

Is not thy master with him ? who, were 't so, 30 

Would have inform'd for preparation. 

Messenger. So please you, it is true : our thane is coming. 
One of my fellows had the speed of him, 6 
Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more 
Than would make up his message. 

3 Illness = unscrupulousness, evil. 

4 Thou'dst have, etc. "Thou'dst have, great Glamis, that (i.e. the 
crown) which (crown) cries, ' Thus thou must do, if thou have it .(i.e. me, 
the crown),' and (thou wouldst have) that (i.e. murder) which rather thou 
dost fear to do, than wishest to be undone (i.e. unperformed)." — Spraguc. 

5 Metaphysical = beyond the physical, supernatural. 

6 Had the speed of him = outstripped him. 



SCENE V.J MACBETH. 15 

Lady Macbeth. Give him tending ; 35 

He brings great news. [Exit Messenger. 

The raven himself is hoarse 
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan 
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits 
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, 
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full 40 

Of direst cruelty ! make thick my blood ; 
Stop up the access and passage to remorse, 
That no compunctious visitings of nature 
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace 7 between 
The effect and it ! Come to my woman's breasts, 45 

And take my milk for gall, you murthering ministers, 
Wherever in your sightless 8 substances 
You wait on nature's mischief ! Come, thick night, 
And pall 9 thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, 
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, 50 

Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, 
To cry ' Hold, hold ! ' 

Enter Macbeth. 

Great Glamis ! worthy Cawdor ! 
Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter ! 10 
Thy letters have transported me beyond 
This ignorant present, and I feel now 55 

The future in the instant. 11 

Macbeth. My dearest love, 

Duncan comes here to-night. 

Lady Macbeth. And when goes hence ? 

Macbeth. To-morrow, — as he purposes. 

7 Keep peace = " Keep peace (i.e. avert murder) by interposing be- 
tween purpose and effect." — Chambers. 

8 Sightless = invisible. 9 Pall = to cover up. 

10 The all-hail hereafter = tbe all-bail of the witches, who promised that 
he should be king hereafter. 

11 Instant = present moment. 



16 MACBETH. [ACT I. 

Lady Macbeth. 0, never 

Shall sun that morrow see ! 

Your face, my thane, is as a book where men 60 

May read strange matters. To beguile the time, 
Look like the time ; 12 bear welcome in your eye, 
Your hand, your tongue : look like the innocent flower, 
But be the serpent under 't. He that 's coming 
Must be provided for : and you shall put 65 

This night's great business into my dispatch ; 
Which shall to all our nights and days to come 
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. 

Macbeth. We will speak further. 

Lady Macbeth. Only look up clear ; 

To alter favour ever is to fear : 13 70 

Leave all the rest to me. [Exeunt. 

Scene VI. — Before Macbeth' } s Castle. 

Hautboys and torches. Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Donal- 
bain, Banquo, Lennox, Macduff, Boss, Angus, and 

Attendants. 

Duncan. This castle hath a pleasant seat ; the air 
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself 
Unto our gentle senses. 1 

Banquo. This guest of summer, 

The temple-haunting martlet, 2 does approve 
By his lov'd mansionry that the heaven's breath 5 

Smells wooingly here : no jutty, frieze, 

12 Look like the time = conceal your thoughts. Make your face appear 
as if you were in perfect accord with whatever is going on about you. 

13 To alter favour, etc. To change countenance is to be afraid, — it 
indicates fear. 

Scene VI. — l The air nimbly, etc. " The air, by its purity and sweet- 
ness, attempers our senses to its own state, and so makes them gentle, 
or sweetens them into gentleness." — Hudson. 

2 Martlet = martin, 



SCENE VI.] MACBETH. 17 

Buttress, nor coign of vantage, 3 but this bird 
Hatli made his pendent bed and procreant cradle : 
Where they most breed and haunt, I have observ'd 
The air is delicate. 

Enter Lady Macbeth. 

Duncan. See, see, our honour'd hostess ! 10 

The love that follows us sometime is our trouble, 
Which still we thank as love. 4 Herein I teach you 
How you shall bid God 'ield 5 us for your pains 
And thank us for your trouble. 

Lady Macbeth. All our service 

In every point twice done and then done double 15 

Were poor and single business, to contend 
Against those honours deep and broad wherewith 
Your majesty loads our house : for those of old, 
And the late dignities heap'd up to them, 
We rest your hermits. 6 

Duncan. Where 's the thane of Cawdor ? 20 

We cours'd him at the heels, and had a purpose 
To be his purveyor ; 7 but he rides well, 
And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp 8 him 
To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess, 
We are your guest to-night. 

Lady Macbeth. Your servants ever 25 

Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt, 9 

3 Coign of vantage — " Convenient corner." — Johnson. 

4 The love that follows us, etc. Love in seeking to manifest itself may 
sometimes follow us so persistently as actually to become annoying ; and 
yet if we know that it is truly love, we cannot but thank it. Thus in try- 
ing to show our love we have put you to great pains ; yet, since you know 
it is love, you ought to thank God for it and thank us, too, rather than 
blame us for making you so much trouble. 

5 God 'ield = God yield or reward. 

6 We rest your hermits. "We, as hermits or beadsmen, shall always 
pray for you." — Steevens, quoted by Furness. 

7 Purveyor = one sent ahead to provide for the king's food. 

8 Holp = helped. 9 In compt = subject to account. 



18 MACBETH. [ACT I. 

To make their audit at your highness' pleasure, 
Still to return your own. 

Duncan. Give me your hand ; 

Conduct me to mine host : we love him highly, 
And shall continue our graces towards him. 30 

By your leave, hostess. [Exeunt, 

Scene VII. — Macbeth's Castle. 

Hautboys and torches. Enter a Sewer, 1 and divers Servants 
with dishes and service, and pass over the stage. Then enter 
Macbeth. 

Macbeth. If it were done when 't is done then 't were well 
It were done quickly : if the assassination 
Could trammel up 2 the consequence, and catch 
With his surcease 3 success ; that but this blow 4 
Might be the be-all s and the end-all here, 5 

But here, 6 upon this bank and shoal of time, 
We 'd jump 7 the life to come. But in these cases 
We still have judgment here; that 8 we but teach 
Bloody instructions, which being taught return 
To plague the inventor : this even-handed justice 10 

Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice 
To our own lips. He 's here in double trust : 
First, As I am his kinsman and his subject, 
Strong both against the deed ; then, as his host, 
Who/ should against his murtherer shut the door, 15 

Kot/bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan 



Scene VII. — 1 Sewer = an officer whose duty it was to place the dishes 
on the table. 

2 Trammel up = to catch or entangle as in a net. 

3 Surcease— cessation. 

4 Thai but this blow = so that this blow alone. 

5 The be-all = a thing that is complete ; that has no consequences fol- 
lowing. 

6 But here — only here, or even here. 

7 Jump = risk. 8 That = so that. 



SCENE VII.] MACBETH. 19 

Hath borne his faculties 9 so meek, hath been 

So clear in his great office, that his virtues 

Will plead like angels trumpet-tongu'd against 

The deep damnation of his taking-off ; 20 

And pity, like a naked new-born babe, 

Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubin, hors'cl 

Upon the sightless couriers of the air, 10 

Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, 

That tears shall drown the wind. 11 I have no spur 25 

To prick the sides of my intent, but only 

Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself 

And falls on the other. 12 

Enter Lady Macbeth. 

How now ! what news ? 

Lady Macbeth. He has almost supp'd : why have you left 
the chamber ? 

Macbeth. Hath he ask'd for me ? 

Lady Macbeth. Know you. not he has ? 30 

Macbeth. We will proceed no further in this business : 
He hath honour'd me of late ; and I have bought 
Golden opinions from all sorts of people, 
Which would 13 be worn now in their newest gloss, 
Not cast aside so soon. 

Lady Macbeth. Was the hope drunk 14 35 

Wherein you dress'd yourself ? hath it slept since ? 

9 Faculties = kingly powers. 

10 Sightless couriers of the air = the invisible winds. 

11 Tears shall drown the wind. Alluding to the fact that the wind often 
subsides as soon as the shower begins. 

12 On the other = on the other side. "Image of a person meaning to 
vault into his saddle, who, by taking too great a leap, will fall on the other 
side." — Malone, quoted by Furness. 

is Would = should. 

14 Was the hope drunk, etc. " Were you drunk when you formed your 
bold plan, and are you now just awake from the debauch to be crestfallen, 
shrinking, mean-spirited?" — Moberly, quoted by Rolfe. 



20 MACBETH. [ACT i. 

And wakes it now, to look so green and pale 

At what it did so freely ? From this time 

Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard 

To be the same in thine own act and valour 4 o 

As thou art in desire ? Wouldst thou have that 

Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, 

And live a coward in thine own esteem, 

Letting ' I dare not ' wait upon ' I would,' 

Like the poor cat i' the adage ? 15 

Macbeth. Prithee, peace : 45 

I dare do all that may become a man ; 
Who dares do more is none. 

Lady Macbeth. What beast ,G was 't then 

That made you break this enterprise to me ? 
When you durst do it, then you were a man ; 
And, to be more than what you were, you would 50 

Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place 
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both : 17 
They have made themselves, and that their fitness now 
Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know 
How tender 't is to love the babe that milks me: 55 

I would, while it was smiling in my face, 
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums 
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you 
Have done to this. 

Macbeth. If we should fail ? 

Lady Macbeth. We fail. 

But screw your courage to the sticking-place, 60 

And we '11 not fail. When Duncan is asleep — 

15 Like the poor cat, etc. "The cat would eat fish and would not wet 
her feet." 

16 What beast, etc. " The point is, If it is not the act of a man to do the 
deed now, was it one to suggest it before? " — Chambers. 

1T Nor time nor place, etc. "He was then for making a time and a 
place for the deed ; yet, now that they have made themselves to his hand, 
he is unmanned by them." — Hudson. 






SCENE VII.] MACBETH. 21 

Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey 

Soundly invite him — his two chamberlains 

Will I with wine and wassail 18 so convince 19 

That memory, the warder of the brain, 65 

Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason 

A limbeck w only : when in swinish sleep 

Their drenched natures lie as in a death, 

What cannot you and I perform upon 

The unguarded Duncan ? what not put upon 70 

His spongy 21 officers, who shall bear the guilt 

Of our great quell ? 22 

Macbeth. Bring forth men-children only ; 

For thy undaunted mettle should compose 
Nothing but males. Will it not be receiv'd, 
When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two 75 

Of his own chamber and us'd their very daggers, 
That they have done 't ? 

Lady Macbeth. Who dares receive it other, 

As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar 
Upon his death ? 

Macbeth. I am settled, and bend up 

Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. 80 

Away, and mock the time with fairest show : 
False face must hide what the false heart doth know. 

[Exeunt. 

18 Wassail = revelry ; health drinking. 

19 Convince = overcome. 

20 Limbeck = aleinhic. 

21 Spongy. " Because they soak up so much liquor." — Hudson. 

22 Quell = murder. 



22 MACBETH. [ACT II. 



ACT II. 

Scene I. — Court of Macbeth' 's Castle. 
Enter Banquo, and Fleance bearing a torch before him. 

Banquo. How goes the night, boy ? 

Fleance. The moon is down, I have not heard the clock. 

Banquo. And she goes down at twelve. 

Fleance. I take 't, 'tis later, sir. 

Banquo. Hold, take my sword. — There's husbandry l in 
heaven ; 
Their candles are all out. — Take thee that too. — 5 

A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, 
And yet I would not sleep. Merciful powers, 
Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature 
Gives way to in repose ! — 

Enter Macbeth, and a Servant with a torch. 

Give me my sword. — 
Who 's there ? 10 

Macbeth. A friend. 

Banquo. What, sir, not yet at rest ? The king 's abed : 
He hath been in unusual pleasure, and 
Sent forth great largess to your offices. 2 
This diamond he greets your wife withal, 15 

By the name of most kind hostess ; and shut up 
In measureless content. 3 

Act II., Scene I. — 1 Husbandry = economy. 

2 Offices — servants. 

3 Shut up, etc. In a particularly happy mood ; " being wrapped up in 
unbounded satisfaction." 



SCENE I.] MACBETH. 23 

Macbeth. Being uuprepar'd, 

Our will became the servant to defect, 
Which else should free have wrought. 4 

Banquo. All 's well. 

I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters : 20 

To you they have show'd some truth. 

Macbeth. I think not of them : 

Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve, 
We would spend it in some words upon that business, 
If you would grant the time. 

Banquo. At your kind'st leisure. 

Macbeth. If you shall cleave to my consent, when ? t is, 25 
It shall make honour for you. 5 

Banquo. So I lose none 

In seeking to augment it, but still keep 
My bosom franchis'd 6 and allegiance clear, 
I shall be counsell'd. 7 

Macbeth. Good repose the while ! 

Banquo. Thanks, sir : the like to you ! 30 

[Exeunt Banquo and Fleance. 

Macbeth. Go bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready, 
She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed. — [Exit Servant. 
Is this a dagger which I see before me, 
The handle toward my hand ? — Come, let me clutch thee. 
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. 35 

4 Being unprepar'd, etc. "Being unprepared, our entertainment was 
necessarily defective and we only had it in our power to show the king our 
willingness to serve him. Had we received sufficient notice of his coming, 
our zeal should have heen more clearly manifested by our acts. ' Which ' 
refers, not to the last antecedent, 'defect,' hut to 'will.' " — Malone, quoted 
by Furness. 

5 If you shall cleave to my consent, etc. If you will cleave to me and help 
me when the witches' prediction shall have come true, and I am king, it 
will be to your advantage. 

6 Franchis'd — unstained. 

7 So I lose none, etc. Provided I lose no honor while seeking to gain 
more, and keep myself unstained and free from disloyalty to my king, I 
will listen to your advice. 



24 MACBETH. [act II. 

Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible 

To feeling as to sight ? or art thou but 

A dagger of the mind, a false creation, 

Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain ? 

I see thee yet, in form as palpable 40 

As this which now I draw. 

Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going ; 

And such an instrument I was to use. — 

Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses, 

Or else worth all the rest: 8 I see thee still ; 45 

And on thy blade and dudgeon 9 gouts of blood, 

Which was not so before. — There 's no such thing : 

It is the bloody business which informs 

Thus to mine eyes. — Now o'er the one half -world 

Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse 50 

The curtain' d sleep ; — witchcraft celebrates 

Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd murther, 

Alarum'd I0 by his sentinel the wolf, 

Whose howl 's his watch, 11 thus with his stealthy pace, 

With Tarquin's ravishing strides, 12 towards his design 55 

Moves like a ghost. — Thou sure and firm-set earth, 

Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear 

Thy very stones prate of my whereabout, 

And take the present horror from the time, 

Which now suits with it. 13 — Whiles I threat he lives: 60 

8 Mine eyes are made the fools, etc. " If the dagger be unreal, then my 
eyes are befooled by the other senses, which prove its unreality. But if 
the dagger is something more than a phantom, then his eyes, by means of 
which alone he has perceived it, are worth all the other senses put to- 
gether." — Delias, quoted by Furness. 

9 Dudgeon — handle. 10 Alarum'd = summoned. 

11 Watch = watchword or signal. 

12 With Tarquin's ravishing strides. "With the swift, but noiseless, 
strides with which Tarquin made his way to Lucretia's bed with the object 
of ravishing her." — Deighton. 

13 And take the present horror, etc. " That is, break the universal silence 
that added such a horror to the night as suited well with the bloody deed 
he was about to perform." — Steevens, quoted by Rolfe. 






SCENE II.] MACBETH. 2b 

Words to the heat of deeds too cool breath gives. [Bell rings. 

I go, and it is done ; the bell invites me. — 

Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell 

That summons thee to heaven or to hell. [Exit. 

Scene II. — The Same. 
Enter Lady Macbeth. 

Lady Macbeth. That which hath made them drunk hath 
made me bold ; 
What hath quench' d them hath given me fire. — Hark ! 

Peace ! 
It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman, 
Which gives the stern' st good-night. He 1 is about it : 
The doors are open, and the surfeited grooms 5 

Do mock their charge with snores ; I have drugg'd their 

possets, 
That death and nature do contend about them, 
Whether they live or die. 

Macbeth. [ Within'] Who 's there ? what, ho ! 

Lady Macbeth. Alack, I am afraid they have awak'd, 
And 't is not done. The attempt and not the deed 10 

Confounds us. 2 Hark ! I laid their daggers ready ; 
He could not miss 'em. Had he not resembled 
My father as he slept, I had done 't. — My husband ! 

Enter Macbeth. 

Macbeth. I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a 

noise ? 
Lady Macbeth. I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. 

Did not you speak ? 16 

Macbeth. When ? 

Lady Macbeth. Now. 

Scene II. - 1 He = Macbeth. 

2 The attempt and not the deed confounds us. If we make the attempt 
and fail to consummate it, it will be our sure ruin. 



26 MACBETH. [ACT ii. 

Macbeth. As I descended ? 

£<*<% Macbeth. Ay. 

Macbeth. Hark ! 
Who lies i' the second chamber? 

Lady Macbeth. Donalbain. 

Macbeth. This is a sorry sight. [Looking on his hands. 20 

Lady Macbeth. A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight. 

Macbeth. There 's one did laugh in 's sleep, and one cried 
' Murther ! ' 
That they did wake each other : I stood and heard them : 
But they did say their prayers, and address'd them 
Again to sleep. 

Lady Macbeth. There are two lodg'd together. 25 

Macbeth. One cried ' God bless us ! ' and ' Amen ' the other ; 
As they had seen me with these hangman's hands, 
Listening their fear. I could not say ' Amen ' 
When they did say ' God bless us ! ' 

Lady Macbeth. Consider it not so deeply. 30 

Macbeth. But wherefore could not I pronounce l Amen ? ' 
I had most need of blessing, and ' Amen ' 
Stuck in my throat. 

Lady Macbeth. These deeds must not be thought 

After these ways ; so, it will make us mad. 34 

Macbeth. Methought I heard a voice cry ' Sleep no more ! 
Macbeth does murther sleep ' — the innocent sleep, 
Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care, 
The death of, each day's life, sore labour's bath, 
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, 
Chief nourisher in life's feast, — 

Lady Macbeth. What do you mean ? 40 

Macbeth. Still it cried ' Sleep no more ! ' to all the house : 
' Glamis hath murther'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor 
Shall sleep no more ; Macbeth shall sleep no more.' 

Lady Macbeth. Who was it that thus cried ? Why, worthy 
thane, 



SCENE II.] MACBETH. 21 

You do unbend your noble strength, to think 45 

So brainsickly 3 of things. Go get some water, 

And wash this filthy witness from your hand. 

Why did you bring these daggers from the place ? 

They must lie there : go carry them, and smear 

The sleepy grooms with blood. 

Macbeth. I '11 go no more : 50 

I am afraid to think what I have done ; 
Look on 't again I dare not. 

Lady Macbeth. Infirm of purpose ! 

Give me the daggers : the sleeping and the dead 
Are but as pictures ; 't is the eye of childhood 
That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, 55 

I '11 gild the faces of the grooms withal ; 
For it must seem their guilt. [Exit. Knocking ivitlrin. 

Macbeth. Whence is that knocking ? 

How is 't with me, when every noise appals me ? 
What hands are here? Ha! they pluck out mine eyes. 
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood 60 

Clean from my hand ? No ; this my hand will rather 
The multitudinous seas incarnadine, 4 
Making the green one red. 5 

Re-enter Lady Macbeth. 

Lady Macbeth. My hands are of your colour ; but I shame 
To wear a heart so white. [Knocking ivithin.~] I hear a knocking 
At the south entry : retire we to our chamber. 66 

A little water clears us of this deed : 
How easy is it, then ! Your constancy 
Hath left you unattended. [Knocking within.'] Hark! more 
knocking. 

3 Brainsickly = crazily, insanely. 

4 Incarnadine — encrimson. 5 One red = one uniform red. 

6 Your constancy hath left you unattended = steadiness and self-control 
are no longer with you. 



28 MACBETH. [ACT ii. 

Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us 70 

And show us to be watchers. Be not lost 
So poorly in your thoughts. 

Macbeth. To know my deed, 't were best not know myself. 7 

[Knocking within. 
Wake Duncan with thy knocking ! I would thou couldst ! 

[Exeunt. 

Scene III. — Tlie Same. 

Enter a Porter. Knocking within. 

Porter. Here 's a knocking indeed ! If a man were porter 
of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key. [Knocking 
within.'] Knock, knock, knock! Who's there, i' the name 
of Beelzebub ? Here 's a farmer, that hanged himself on th' 
expectation of plenty : come in time ; have napkins enow 1 
about you ; here you '11 sweat for 't. [Knocking ivithin.] 
Knock, knock ! Who 's there, in th' other devil's name ? 
Faith, here 's an equivocator, that could swear in both the 
scales against either scale ; who committed treason enough 
for God's sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven : 0, come 
in, equivocator. [Knocking within."] Knock, knock, knock! 
Who 's there ? Faith, here 's an English tailor come hither, 
for stealing out of a French hose : 2 come in, tailor ; here you 
may roast your goose. [Knocking within.] Knock, knock ; 
never at quiet ! What are you ? But this place is too cold 
for hell. I '11 devil-porter it no further : I had thought to 
have let in some of all professions, that go the primrose way 

7 To know my deed, etc. "This is said in answer to Lady Macbeth's 
' Be not lost so poorly in your thoughts ; ' and the meaning is, while think- 
ing of what I have done, it were best I should be lost to myself, or should 
not know myself as the doer of it." — Hudson. 

Scene III. — 1 Napkins enow = handkerchiefs enough. 

2 Stealing out of a French hose. "The joke consists in this, that a 
French hose [pantaloons] being very short and strait, a tailor must be 
a master of his trade who could steal anything from thence." — Warbur- 
ton, quoted by Furness. 



SCENE III.] MACBETH. 29 

to the everlasting bonfire. — [Knocking wiihin.~] Anon, anon! 
I pray you, remember the porter. 3 [Opens the gate. 

Enter Macduff and Lennox. 

Macduff. Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed, 20 
That you do lie so late ? 

Porter. Faith, sir, we were carousing till the second 

cock. 4 
Macduff. Is thy master stirring? 

Enter Macbeth. 

Our knocking has awak'd him ; here he comes. 

Lennox. Good morrow, noble sir. 

Macbeth. Good morrow, both. 25 

Macduff. Is the king stirring, worthy thane ? 

Macbeth. Not yet. 

Macduff. He did command me to call timely on him : 
I have almost slipp'd the hour. 

Macbeth. I '11 bring you to him. 

Macduff. I know this is a joyful trouble to you ; 
But yet 't is one. 30 

Macbeth. The labour we delight in physics 5 pain. 
This is the door. 

Macduff. I '11 make so bold to call, 

For 't is my limited 6 service. [Exit. 

Lennox. Goes the king hence to-day ? 

Macbeth. He does — he did appoint so. 

Lennox. The night has been unruly ; where we lay, 35 
Our chimneys were blown down, and, as they say, 
Lamentings heard i' the air, strange screams of death, 
And prophesying with accents terrible 

3 Remember the porter , i.e. with the usual fee. 

4 The second cock = "between two and three in the morning. 

5 Physics = cures. 

6 Limited = appointed. 



30 MACBETH. [ACT II. 



40 



Of dire combustion and confus'd events 
New hatch'd to the woeful time ; the obscure bird 7 
Clamour'd the livelong night ; some say the earth 
Was feverous 8 and did shake. 

Macbeth. 'T was a rough night. 

Lennox. My young remembrance cannot parallel 
A fellow to it. 

Re-enter Macduff. 

Macduff. horror, horror, horror ! Tongue nor heart 45 
Cannot conceive nor name thee ! 

f acbeth -\ What's the matter? 

Lennox. > 

Macduff. Confusion now hath made his masterpiece. 
Most sacrilegious murther hath broke ope 
The Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence 
The life 0' the building. 

Macbeth. What is 't you say ? the life ? 50 

Lennox. Mean you his majesty ? 

Macduff. Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight 
With a new Gorgon. Do not bid me speak ; 
See, and then speak yourselves. [Exeunt Macbeth and Lennox. 

Awake, awake ! 
King the alarum-bell. — Murther and treason ! — 55 

Banquo and Donalbain ! — Malcolm ! awake ! 
Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit, 
And look on death itself ! up, up, and see 
The great doom's image ! 9 — Malcolm ! Banquo ! 
As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprites, 60 

To countenance this horror. 10 Bing the bell. \_Bell rings. 

7 Obscure bird = the owl, because he loves the darkness. 

8 Feverous = feverish, or afflicted with the ague fever. 

9 Great doom — the Judgment day. 

10 To countenance this horror = " To put on a likeness of it ; to augment 
or intensify it ; an effect which the further horror of men rising up as from 
the dead, and walking as ghosts, would naturally produce." — Hudson. 



SCENE III.] MACBETH. 31 



Enter Lady Macbeth. 

Lady Macbeth. What 's the business, 
That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley 
The sleepers of the house ? speak, speak ! 

Macduff. gentle lady, 

'T is not for you to hear what I can speak : 65 

The repetition, in a woman's ear, 
Would murther as it fell. — 

Enter Banquo. 

Banquo, Banquo ! 
Our royal master 's murther'd. 

Lady Macbeth. Woe, alas ! 

What, in our house ? 

Banquo. Too cruel anywhere. 

Dear Duff, I prithee, contradict thyself, 70 

And say it is not so. 

Re-enter Macbeth and Lennox. 

Macbeth. Had I but died an hour before this chance, 
I had liv'd a blessed time ; for from this instant 
There 's nothing serious in mortality : n 
All is but toys : renown and grace is dead ; 75 

The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees 
Is left this vault to brag of. 12 

Enter Malcolm and Donalbain. 

Donalbain. What is amiss ? 

Macbeth. You are, and do not know 't : 

The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood 
Is stopp'd, — the very source of it is stopp'd. 80 

11 Mortality = mortal life. 

12 The mere lees, etc. = only dregs are left for the vault (i.e. the wine- 
cellar) to boast of. 



32 MACBETH. [ACT II. 

Macduff. Your royal father 's murther'd. 

Malcolm. 0, by whom ? 

Lennox. Those of his chamber, as it seem'd, had done 't. 
Their hands and faces were all badg'd 13 with blood; 
So were their daggers, which unwip'd we found 
Upon their pillows : 85 

They star'd, and were distracted ; no man's life 
Was to be trusted with them. 

Macbeth. 0, yet I do repent me of my fury, 
That I did kill them. 

Macduff. Wherefore did you so ? 

Macbeth. Who can be wise, amaz'd, temperate and furi- 
ous, 90 
Loyal and neutral, in a moment ? No man : 
The expedition 14 of my violent love 
Outrun the pauser, reason. Here lay Duncan, 
His silver skin lac'd with his golden blood, 
And his gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in nature 95 
For ruin's wasteful entrance ; there, the murtherers, 
Steep'd in the colours of their trade, their daggers 
Unmannerly breech'd with gore : 15 who could refrain, 
That had a heart to love, and in that heart 
Courage to make 's love known ? 

Lady Macbeth. Help me hence, ho ! 100 

Macduff. Look to the lady. 

Malcolm. [Aside to Donalbain~\ Why do we hold our 
tongues, 
That most may claim this argument 16 for ours ? 



13 Badg'd = marked as by a badge. 

14 Expedition = swiftness. 

15 Unmannerly breech' d = covered with blood as with breeches, — 
sheathed in a case of blood ; certainly an unmannerly way to sheathe a 
dagger. 

16 Argument = theme, subject of discourse. The meaning is, Why do 
we keep silence when this subject is one that concerns us more than any 
one else ? 



SCENE III.] MACBETH. 33 

Donalbain. [Aside to Malcolm'] What should be spoken 
here, where our fate, 
Hid in an auger-hole, 17 may rush, and seize us ? 
Let 's away ; 105 

Our tears are not yet brew'd. 

Malcolm. [Aside to Donalbain'] Nor our strong sorrow 
Upon the foot of motion. 

Banquo. Look to the lady : — 

[Lady Macbeth is carried out. 
And when we have our naked frailties hid, 18 
That suffer in exposure, let us meet, 

And question this most bloody piece of work, no 

To know it further. Fears and scruples shake us : 
In the great hand of God I stand, and thence 
Against the undivulg'd pretence I fight 
Of treasonous malice. 19 

Macduff. And so do I. 

All. So all. 

Macbeth. Let 's briefly put on manly readiness, 20 115 

And meet i' the hall together. 

All. Well contented. 

[Exeunt all bid Malcolm and Donalbain. 

Malcolm. What will you do ? Let 's not consort with them : 
To show an unfelt sorrow is an office 
Which the false man does easy. I'll to England. 

Donalbain. To Ireland, I : our separated fortune 120 

Shall keep us both the safer ; where we are, 

17 Auger-hole = a small hole, an unperceived lurking-place. 

18 Our naked frailties, etc. "When we have clothed our half-dressed 
bodies, which may take cold from being exposed to the air." — Steevens, 
quoted by Furness. 

19 Fears and scruples shake us, etc. = Now the awfulness and the mys- 
tery of the deed shake us with fear, and doubts as to what is our duty 
fill us with scruples. As for me, I rest in a firm trust in God, and, 
helped by Him, I shall fight against the hidden intentions of treacherous 
malice. 

20 Put on manly readiness = dress ourselves. 



34 MACBETH. [ACT II. 

There 's daggers in men's smiles : the near 21 in blood, 
The nearer bloody. 

Malcolm. This murtherous shaft that 's shot 

Hath not yet lighted, 22 and our safest way 
Is to avoid the aim. Therefore, to horse ; 125 

And let us not be dainty of leave-taking, 
But shift away : there 's warrant in that theft 
Which steals itself when there 's no mercy left. [Exeunt. 

Scene IV. — Without the Castle. 
Enter Ross and an old Man. 

Old Man. Threescore and ten I can remember well : 
Within the volume of which time I have seen 
Hours dreadful and things strange; but this sore night 
Hath trifled former knowings. 

Ross. Ah, good father, 

Thou seest, the heavens, as troubled with man's act, 5 

Threaten his bloody stage : by the clock J t is day, 
And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp. 1 
Is 't night's predominance, or the day's shame, 
That darkness does the face of earth entomb, 
When living light should kiss it ? 

Old Man. 'T is unnatural, 10 

Even like the deed that 's done. On Tuesday last, 
A falcon, towering in her pride of place, 2 
Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd. 

Boss. And Duncan's horses — a thing most strange and 
certain — 

21 Near = nearer. 

22 This murtherous shaft, etc. " Suspecting this murder to be the work 
of Macbeth, Malcolm thinks that the ' murderous shaft ' must pass through 
himself and his brother to reach its mark." — Hudson. " The design to 
fix the murder upon some innocent person has not yet taken effect." 
— Johnson, quoted by Furness. 

Sce^e IV. — l Travelling lamp = sun. 

2 Towering in her pride of place = soaring at a great height. 



SCENE IV.] MACBETH. 35 

Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, 15 

Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out, 
Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would make 
War with mankind. 

Old Man. 'T is said they eat each other. 

Ross. They did so, to the amazement of mine eyes 
That look'd upon 't. Here comes the good Macduff. — 20 

Enter Macduff. 

How goes the world, sir, now ? 

Macduff. Why, see you not ? 

Boss. Is 't known who did this more than bloody deed ? 

Macduff. Those that Macbeth hath slain. 

Boss. Alas, the day ! 

What good could they pretend ? 3 

Macduff. They were suborn' d : 4 

Malcolm and Donalbain, the king's two sons, 25 

Are stolen away and fled, which puts upon them 
Suspicion of the deed. 

Boss. 'Gainst nature still : 

Thriftless ambition, that wilt ravin 5 up 
Thine own life's means ! Then 't is most like 
The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth. 30 

Macduff. He is already nam'd, and gone to Scone 
To be invested. 

Boss. Where is Duncan's body ? 

Macduff. Carried to Colme-kill, 
The sacred storehouse of his predecessors 
And guardian of their bones. 

Boss. Will you to Scone ? 35 

Macduff. No, cousin, I '11 to Fife. 

Boss. Well, I will thither. 6 

3 Pretend = expect to receive. 5 Bavin = devour ravenously. 

4 Suborn'd = hired. 6 Thither = to Scone. 



36 MACBETH. [ACT II., SCENE IV. 

Macduff. Well, may you see things well done there : adieu ! 
Lest our old robes sit easier than our new ! 

Ross. 1'arewell, father. 

Old Man. God's benison go with you, and with those 40 
That would make good of bad, and friends of foes ! 

[Exeunt. 



ACT III., SCENE I.] MACBETH. 37 



ACT III. 

Scene I. — Forres. A Room in the Palace. 

Enter Banquo. 

Banquo. Thou hast it now, — king, Cawdor, Glamis, all, — 
As the weird women promis'd, and I fear 
Thou play'dst most foully for 't. Yet it was said 
It should not stand in thy posterity, 

But that myself should be the root and father 5 

Of many kings. If there come truth from them ~ 
As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches nhine 1 — 
Why, by the verities on thee made good, 
May they not be my oracles as well 
And set me up in hope ? But hush ! no more. 10 



Sennet sounded. Enter Macbeth, as king; Lady Macbeth, 
as queen; Lennox, Boss, Lords, Ladies, and Attendants. 

Macbeth. Here 's our chief guest. 

Lady Macbeth. If he had been forgotten, 

It had been as a gap in our great feast, 
And all-thing unbecoming. 

Macbeth. To-night we hold a solemn supper, sir, 
And I '11 request your presence. 

Banquo. Let your highness 15 

Command upon me, to the which my duties 
Are with a most indissoluble tie 
For ever knit. 2 

Act III., Scene I. — 1 Shine = are bright, inasmuch as they have come 
true. 

2 Let your highness command upon me, etc. — command me as you will ; 
it is my duty to obey. 



38 MACBETH. [ACT in. 

Macbeth. Ride you this afternoon ? . 

Banquo. Ay, my good lord. 

Macbeth. We should have else desir'd your good advice, 20 
Which still 3 hath been both grave and prosperous, 
In this day's council ; but we '11 take to-morrow. 
Is 't far you ride ? 

Banquo. As far, my lord, as will fill up the time 
'Twixt this and supper : go not my horse the better, 4 25 

I must become a borrower of the night 
For a dark hour or twain. 

Macbeth. Fail not our feast. 

Banquo. My lord, I will not. 

Macbeth. We hear our bloody cousins are bestow'd 
In England and in Ireland, not confessing 30 

Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers 
With strange invention : but of that to-morrow, 
When therewithal we shall have cause of state 
Craving us jointly. 5 Hie you to horse : adieu, 
Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you ? 35 

Banquo. Ay, my good lord: our time does call upon 's. 6 

Macbeth. I wish your horses swift and sure of foot ; 
And so I do commend you to their backs. 
Farewell. — [Exit Banquo. 

Let every man be master of his time 40 

Till seven at night. To make society 
The sweeter welcome, we 7 will keep ourself 
Till supper-time alone : while then, 8 God be with you ! 

[Exeunt all but Macbeth and an Attendant. 

3 Still = always. 

4 Go not my horse the better, sc. than usual, or "Banquo is, perhaps, 
regarding his horse as racing against night, and 'the better' means 'the 
better of the two.' " — Abbott. 

5 When therewithal, etc. When, besides this affair of our bloody 
cousins, we shall have urgent state business that concerns us both. 

6 Our time, etc. = it is high time for us to be starting. 

7 We = Macbeth. 

8 While then = until then. 



SCENE I.] MACBETH. 39 

Sirrah, a word with you : attend those men 

Our pleasure ? 45 

Attendant. They are, my lord, without the palace gate. 

Macbeth. Bring them before us. — [Exit Attendant. 

To be thus is nothing ; 
But to be safely thus. 9 Our fears in Banquo 
Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature 
Reigns that which would 10 be fear'cl: 't is much he dares, 50 
And, to u that dauntless temper of his mind, 
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour 
To act in safety. There is none but he 
Whose being I do fear : and under him 
My Genius is rebuk'd, as it is said 55 

Mark Antony's was by Caesar. He chid the sisters, 
When first they put the name of king upon me, 
And bade them speak to him ; then prophet-like 
They hail'd him father to a line of kings. 
Upon my head they plac'd a fruitless crown, 60 

And put a barren sceptre in my gripe, 
Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand, 
No son of mine succeeding. If 't be so, 
For Banquo's issue have I fil'd 12 my mind ; 
For them the gracious 13 Duncan have I murther'd ; 65 

Put rancours in the vessel of my peace 
Only for them ; and mine eternal jewel 14 
Given to the common enemy of man, 
To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings ! 
Bather than so, come, fate, into the list, 70 

And champion me to the utterance ! 15 — Who 's there ? — 

9 To be thus, etc. — to be a king is nothing unless one is safely a king. 
i° Would = should. 

11 To = in addition to. 

12 Fil'd = defiled. 

13 Gracious = virtuous. 

14 Mine eternul jewel — my soul. 

15 To the utterance = a l'outrance, a combat to the death. 



40 MACBETH. [ACT III. 

Re-enter Attendant, ivith two Murderers. 

Now go to the door, and stay there till we call. — 

[Exit Attendant. 
Was it not yesterday we spoke together ? 

First Murderer. It was, so please your highness. 

Macbeth. Well then, now 

Have you consider'd of my speeches ? Know 75 

That it was he in the times past which held you 
So under fortune, which you thought had been 
Our innocent self. This I made good to you 
In our last conference, pass'd in probation with you, 16 
How you were borne in hand, 17 how cross'd, 18 the instru- 
ments, 19 80 
Who wrought with them, and all things else that might 
To half a soul and to a notion craz'd 20 
Say 'Thus did Banquo.' 

First Murderer. You made it known to us. 

Macbeth. I did so, and went further, which is now 
Our point of second meeting. Do you find 85 

Your patience so predominant in your nature 
That you can let this go ? Are you so gospell'd 
To pray for this good man and for his issue, 
Whose heavy hand hath bow'd you to the grave 
And beggar'd yours for ever ? 

First Murderer. We are men, my liege. 90 

Macbeth. Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men, 
As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, 
Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are clept 

16 Pass'd in probation with you = have proved it, or discussed it in all 
its details. 

ir Borne in hand= deceived, deluded. 

18 C?-oss' d = thwarted. 

19 The instruments = the means he has taken to deceive and thwart you, 

20 To half a soul, etc. = I made it so clear that even a person without 
spirit or brains might have understood it. 



SCENE I.] MACBETH. 41 

All by the name of dogs : the valued file 21 

Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle, 95 

The housekeeper, the hunter, every one 

According to the gift which bounteous nature 

Hath in him clos'd ; whereby he does receive 

Particular addition, from the bill 

That writes -them all alike : and so of men. ioo 

Now if you have a station in the file, 

Not i' the worst rank of manhood, say 't, 

And I will put that business in your bosoms, 

Whose execution takes your enemy off, 

Grapples you to the heart and love of us, 105 

Who wear our health but sickly in his life, 

Which in his death were perfect. 22 

Second Murderer. I am one, my liege, 

Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world 
Have so incens'd that I am reckless what 
I do to spite the world. 

First Murderer. And I another no 

So weary with disasters, tugg'd w r ith fortune, 
That I would set my life on any chance, 
To mend it or be rid on 't. 

Macbeth. Both of you 

Know Banquo was your enemy. 

Both Murderers. True, my lord. 

Macbeth. So is he mine, and in such bloody distance 23 115 
That every minute of his being thrusts 
Against my near'st of life : 24 and though I could 

21 The valued file. " The list or schedule wherein their value and peculiar 
qualities are discriminated and set down." — Hudson. 

22 And I will put, etc. — I will suggest a plan which, if executed, will 
not only rid you of your enemy, but will gain for you the deepest love of 
me, your king, who now lives but a sickly and worthless life, but who then 
would be in every way perfect. 

23 In such bloody distance. The figure is taken from hand to hand con- 
flict ; they are so near each other that blood is sure to follow every thrust. 

24 My near'st of life = my vital parts. 



42 MACBETH. [ACT TTT 

With barefac'd power sweep him from my sight 

And bid my will avouch it, 25 yet I must not, 

For certain friends that are both his and mine, 120 

Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall 

Who I myself struck down : and thence it is, 

That I to your assistance do make love, 

Masking the business from the common eye 

For sundry weighty reasons. 

Second Murderer. We shall, my lord, 125 

Perform what you command us. 

First Murderer. Though our lives — 

Macbeth. Your spirits shine through you. Within this 
hour at most 
I will advise you where to plant yourselves, 
Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time, 26 
The moment on 't ; for 't must be done to-night. 130 

And something from the palace ; Tl always thought 
That I require a clearness : - 8 and with him — 
To leave no rubs nor botches in the work — 
Fleance his son, that keeps him company, 
Whose absence is no less material to me 135 

Than is his father's, must embrace the fate 
Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart : ^ 
I '11 come to you anon. 

Both Murderers. We are resolv'd, my lord. 

Macbeth. I '11 call upon you straight : abide within. 

[Exeunt Murderers. 



25 And bid my ivill avouch it = and bid them to accept it without ques- 
tion simply because it was my will. 

26 Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time, etc. = 1 will acquaint 
you with the precise time when you may first espy him, and with the 
moment when the deed may be best done. See Furness. 

27 And something from the palace = at some distance from the palace. 

28 Always thought, etc. = always bear in mind that I am to be kept clear 
from suspicion. 

29 Resolve youj-selvw apart = make up your minds by yourselves. 



A 



SCENE II.] MACBETH. 43 

It is concluded : Banquo, thy soul's flight, 140 

If it find heaven, must find it out to-night. [Exit. 

Scene II. — The Same. Another Room. 
Enter Lady Macbeth and a Servant. 

Lady Macbeth. Is Banquo gone from court ? 

Servant. Ay, madam, but returns again to-night. 

Lady Macbeth. Say to the king, I would attend his leisure 
For a few words. 

Servant. Madam, I will. [Exit. 

Lady Macbeth. Nought 's had, all 's spent, 

Where our desire is got without content : 5 

'T is safer to be that which we destroy 
Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. 

Enter Macbeth. 

How now, my lord ! why do you keep alone, 
Of sorriest fancies your companions making, 
Using those thoughts which should indeed have died 10 

With them they think on ? Things without all remedy 
•Should be without regard : what 's done is done. 

Macbeth. We have scotch'd 1 the snake, not kill'd it : 
She '11 close 2 and be herself, whilst our poor malice 
B,emains in danger of her former tooth. 15 

But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer, 
Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep 
In the affliction of these terrible dreams 
That shake us nightly ; better be with the dead, 
Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, 20 

Than on the torture 3 of the mind to lie 
In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave ; 
After life's fitful fever he sleeps well ; 

Scene II. — 1 Scotch'd = scored, cut. 2 She 11 close = the wound will heal. 
3 On the torture = on the rack. 



44 MACBETH. [ACT Hi. 

Treason lias done his worst : nor steel, nor poison, 

Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing-, 25 

Can touch him further. 

Lady Macbeth. Come on ; 

Gentle my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks ; 
Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night. 

Macbeth. So shall I, love ; and so, I pray, be you : 
Let your remembrance apply 4 to Banquo ; 30 

Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue : 
Unsafe the while that we 

Must lave our honours in these flattering streams, 
And make our faces visards to our hearts, 
Disguising what they are. 5 

Lady Macbeth. You must leave this. 35 

Macbeth. 0, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife ! 
Thou know'st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives. 

Lady Macbeth. But in them nature's copy 's not eterne. 6 

Macbeth. There 's comfort yet ; they are assailable ; 
Then be thou jocund. Ere the bat hath flown 40 

His cloister'd flight, ere to black Hecate's summons 
The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums 
Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done 
A deed of dreadful note. 

Lady Macbeth. What 's to be done ? 

Macbeth. Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, 45 
Till thou applaud the deed. — Come, seeling night, 
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day, 
And with thy bloody and invisible hand 
Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond 7 
Which keeps • me pale ! — Light thickens, and the crow 50 

4 Apply = be especially devoted to. 

5 Unsafe the lohile, etc. " It is a sure sign that our royalty is unsafe 
when it must descend to flattery and stoop to dissimulation." — Steevens, 
quoted by Furness. 

6 But in them, etc. = but yet they are not immortal. 

7 Great bond — Banquo 's life. 



SCENE III.] MACBETH. 45 

Makes wing to the rooky wood : 8 

Good things of day begin to droop and drowse, 

Whiles night's black agents to their preys do rouse. 

Thou marvell'st at my words ; but hold thee still : 

Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill. 55 

So, prithee, go with me. [Exeunt. 

Scene III. — A Park near the Palace. 
Enter three Murderers. 

First Murderer. But who did bid thee join with us ? 

Third Murderer. Macbeth. 

Second Murderer. He needs not our mistrust, since he 
delivers 
Our offices and what we have to do 
To the direction just. 1 

First Murderer. Then stand with us. 

The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day : 5 

Now spurs the lated traveller apace 
To gain the timely inn, and near approaches 
The subject of our watch. 

Third Murderer. Hark ! I hear horses. 

Banquo. [ Within~\ Give us a light there, ho ! 

Second Murderer. Then 't is he : the rest 

That are within the note of expectation 10 

Already are i' the court. 2 

First Murderer. His horses go about. 3 

Third Murderer. Almost a mile ; but he does usually, 

8 Rooky wood = the wood frequented by rooks, or, according to some 
editors, the damp, misty, reeking wood. 

Scene III. — 1 Since he delivers our offices, etc. = since he is perfectly 
acquainted with what is to be done, and with the part assigned to each of 
us by Macbeth. 

2 The rest, etc. = All the others who were invited are already present. 

3 Go about, etc. = Make a circuit of nearly a mile. Travelers usually 
send their horses by way of the road, while they make a short cut to the 
castle. 



46 MACBETH. {ACT III. 

So all men do, from hence to the palace gate 
Make it their walk. 

Second Murderer. A light, a light ! 

Enter Banquo, and Fleance with a Torch. 

Third Murderer. 'T is he. 15 

First Murderer. Stand to't. 4 

Banquo. It will be rain to-night. 

First Murderer. Let it come down. 

[ They set upon Banquo. 

Banquo. 0, treachery ! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly ! 
Thou mayst revenge — O slave ! [Dies. Fleance escapes. 

Third Murderer. Who did strike out the light ? 

First Murderer. Was 't not the way ? 

Third Murderer. There 's but one down ; the son is fled. 

Second Murderer. We have lost 

Best half of our affair. 21 

First Murderer. Well, let 's away and say how much is 
done. {Exeunt. 

Scene IV. — Hall in a Palace. 

A Banquet prepared. Enter Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, 
Boss, Lennox, Lords and Attendants. 

Macbeth. You know your own degrees ; sit down : at first 
And last the hearty welcome. 1 

Lords. Thanks to your majesty. 

Macbeth. Ourself will mingle with society 
And play the humble host. 

Our hostess keeps her state, 2 but in best time 5 

We will require her welcome. 

4 Stand to 't = brace yourself for your task. 

Scene IV. — 1 You know your own degrees = you know, each of you, 
your rank and the place at the table to which you are entitled. Once for 
all, a hearty welcome. 

2 State — chair of state. 



SCENE IV.] MACBETH. 47 

Lady Macbeth. Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our friends ; 
For my heart speaks they are welcome. 

First Murderer appears at the door. 

Macbeth. See, they encounter thee with their hearts' 
thanks. — 
Both sides are even : here I '11 sit i' the midst. 10 

Be large in mirth ; anon we '11 drink a measure 
The table round. — [Approaching the door~\ There 's blood 
upon thy face. 

Murderer. 'T is Banquo's then. 

Macbeth. 'T is better thee without than he within. 
Is he dispatch'd ? 15 

Murderer. My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for 
him. 

Macbeth. Thou art the best o' the cut-throats : yet he 's 
good 
That did the like for Fleance : if thou didst it, 
Thou art the nonpareil. 

Murderer. Most royal sir, 

Fleance is scap'd. 20 

Macbeth. \_Aside~] Then comes my fit again : I had else 
been perfect, 
Whole as the marble, founded as the rock, 
As broad and general as the casing air ; 
But now I am cabin' d, cribb'd, confin'd, bound in 
To saucy doubts and fears. — But Banquo 's safe ? 25 

Murderer. Ay, my good lord : safe in a ditch he bides, 
With twenty trenched 3 gashes on his head, 
The least a death to nature. 

Macbeth. Thanks for that. 

[ Aside^] There the grown serpent lies ; the worm 4 that 's fled 
Hath nature that in time will venom breed, 30 

3 Trenched = cut deep as a trench. 4 Worm — serpent. 



48 MACBETH. [ACT III. 

No teeth for the present. — Get thee gone : to-morrow 

We '11 hear ourselves 5 again. [Exit Murderer. 

Lady Macbeth. My royal lord, 

You do not give the cheer ; the feast is sold 
That is not often vouch'd, while 't is a-making, 
'T is given with welcome : 6 to feed were best at home ; 35 
From thence 7 the sauce to meat is ceremony ; 
Meeting were bare without it. 

Macbeth. Sweet remembrancer ! 

Now good digestion wait on appetite, 
And health on both ! 

Lennox. May 't please your highness sit. 

[The Ghost of Banquo enters, and sits in Macbeth' 's place. 

Macbeth. Here had we now our country's honour roof'd, 
Were the grac'd person of our Banquo present; 4 i 

Who may I rather challenge for unkindness 
Than pity for mischance ! 8 

Hoss. His absence, sir, 

Lays blame upon his promise. Please 't your highness 
To grace us with your royal company. 45 

Macbeth. The table 's full. 

Lennox. Here is a place reserv'd, sir. 

Macbeth. Where ? 

Lennox. Here, my good lord. What is 't that moves your 
highness ? 

Macbeth. Which of you have done this ? 

Lords. What, my good lord ? 

Macbeth. Thou canst not say I did it : never shake 50 
Thy gory locks at me. 

6 We '11 hear ourselves = we '11 talk it over. 

6 The feast is sold, etc. " That feast can only be considered as sold, not 
given, during which the entertainers omit such courtesies as may assure 
their guests that it is given with welcome." — Dyce, quoted by Furness. 

7 From thence = away from home. 

8 Who may I rather, etc. — "I hope I may rather have occasion to 
accuse him of unkindness in not coming, than to pity him for any mis- 
fortune which has prevented his coming." — Clark and Wright. 



SCENE IV.] MACBETH. 49 

Boss. Gentlemen, rise : his highness is not well. 

Lady Macbeth. Sit, worthy friends, my lord is often thus, 
And hath been from his youth : pray you, keep seat ; 
The fit is momentary ; upon a thought 55 

He will again be well. If much you note him, 
You shall offend him and extend his passion ; 
Feed, and regard him not. — Are you a man ? 

Macbeth. Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that 
Which might appal the devil. 

Lady Macbeth. O proper stuff ! 9 60 

This is the very painting of your fear : 
This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said, 
Led you to Duncan. 0, these flaws and starts, 
Impostors to true fear, 10 would well become 
A woman's story at a winter's fire, 65 

Authoriz'd by her grandam. Shame itself ! 
Why do you make such faces ? When all 's done, 
You look but on a stool. 

Macbeth. Prithee, see there ! behold ! look ! lo ! how say 
you? — 
Why, what care I ? If thou canst nod, speak too. — 70 

If charnel-houses and our graves must send 
Those that we bury back, our monuments 
Shall be the maws of kites. \_Ghost vanishes. 

Lady Macbeth. What, quite unmann'd in folly ? 

Macbeth. If I stand here, I saw him. 

Lady Macbeth. Fie, for shame ! 

Macbeth. Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden time, 
Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal ; 76 

Ay, and since too, murthers have been perform'd 
Too terrible for the ear : the time has been, 
That when the brains were out the man would die, 

9 proper stuff = O absolute nonsense. 

10 Impostors to true fear = " These self-generated fears are impostors 
compared to true fear." — Hudson. 



50 MACBETH. [ACT IIT. 

And there an end ; but now they rise again, So 

With twenty mortal murthers " on their crowns, 
And push us from our stools. This is more strange 
Than such a murther is. 

Lady Macbeth. My worthy lord, 

Your noble friends do lack you. 

Macbeth. I do forget. — 

Do not muse 12 at me, my most worthy friends ; 85 

I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing 
To those that know me. Come, love and health to all ; 
Then I '11 sit down. — Give me some wine, fill full. — 
I drink to the general joy o' the whole table, 
And to our dear friend Bauquo, whom we miss ; 90 

Would he were here! to all and him we thirst, 
And all to all. 

Lords. Our duties, and the pledge. 

Re-enter Ghost. 

Macbeth. Avaunt ! and quit my sight ! let the earth hide 
thee ! 
Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold ; 
Thou hast no speculation Ia in those eyes 95 

Which thou dost glare with. 

Lady Macbeth. Think of this, good peers, 

But as a thing of custom : 't is no other ; 
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time. 

Macbeth. What man dare, I dare : 
Approach thou like the rugged Eussian bear, 100 

The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger ; 
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves 
Shall never tremble: or be alive again, 
And dare me to the desert with thy sword 5 
If trembling I inhabit then, 14 protest me 105 

11 Mortal murthers = deadly wounds. 12 Muse = wonder. 

13 Speculation = intelligence. 

14 If trembling I inhabit then — if I remain trembling within doors then. 



SCENE IV.] MACBETH. 51 

The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow ! 

Unreal mockery, hence! [Ghost vanishes. 

Why, so : being gone, 
I am a man again. — Pray you, sit still. 

Lady Macbeth. You have displac'd the mirth, broke the 
good meeting, 
With most admir'd 15 disorder. 

Macbeth. Can such things be, no 

And overcome us like a summer's cloud, 
Without our special wonder ? You make me strange 
Even to the disposition that I owe, 
When now I think you can behold such sights, 
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, 115 

When mine is blanch'd with fear. 16 

Ross. What sights, my lord ? 

Lady Macbeth. I pray you, speak not ; he grows worse 
and worse ; 
Question enrages him. At once, good night : 
Stand not upon the order of your going, 
But go at once. 17 

Lennox. Good night ; and better health 120 

Attend his majesty ! 

Lady Macbeth. A kind good night to all ! 

[Exeunt all but Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. 

Macbeth. It will have blood, they say ; blood will have 
blood : 
Stones have been known to move and trees to speak ; 
Augurs 18 and understood relations 19 have 

. 15 Admir'd = wonderful. 

16 You make me strange, etc. = you make me a stranger to my usual 
disposition, i.e. I am beside myself with amazement when I think, etc. 
See Furness. 

17 Stand not, etc. = go not in the regular order of your rank ; get away 
as quickly as you can. 

18 Augurs — soothsayers. 

19 Understood relations = "The connection *of effects with causes." — 
Johnson. 



52 MACBETH. [ACT III, 

By magot-pies 20 and choughs 21 and rooks brought forth 125 
The secret'st man of blood. — What is the night ? 

Lady Macbeth. Almost at odds with morning, which is 
which. 

Macbeth. How say'st thou/ 2 that Macduff denies his 
. person 
At our great bidding ? 

Lady Macbeth. Did you send to him, sir ? 

Macbeth. I hear it by the way, 23 but I will send : M • 1^ 
There 's not a one of them but in his house 
I keep a servant fee'd. I will to-morrow, 
And betimes ffi I will, to the weird sisters : 
More shall they speak, for now I am bent to know, 
By the worst means, the worst. For mine own good 135 
All causes shall give way : I am in blood 
Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, 
Returning were as tedious as go o'er. 
Strange things I have in head that will to hand, 
Which must be acted ere they may be scann'd. 140 

Lady Macbeth. You lack the season of all natures, sleep. 

Macbeth. Come, we '11 to sleep. My strange and self- 
abuse 
Is the initiate fear that wants hard use : 
We are yet but young in deed. 26 {Exeunt. 



20 Magot-pies — magpies. 

21 Choughs = jackdaws. Soothsayers, understanding the relations be- 
tween the occult and the known, have, by means of magpies, jackdaws, 
and rooks, revealed the guilt of murderers even though they had covered 
their crime with a perfection of ingenuity. 

22 How say'st thou, etc. What do you think of the fact that, etc. 

23 By the way — in a roundabout way. 

24 But I will send, i.e. and find out the truth from one of my fee'd 
servants. 

25 Betimes = very early. 

26 My strange and self-abuse, etc. = this awful suffering that I am endur- 
ing is all the result of fear, which is always the attendant of the initiate in 
crime ; with more deeds I shall become hardened, and shall not mind these 
things. 



SCENE v.] MACBETH. 53 

Scene V. — A Heath. 

Thunder. Enter the three Witches, meeting Hecate. 

First Witch. Why, how now, Hecate ! you look angerly, 
Hecate. Have I not reason, beldams as you are, 

Saucy and overbold ? How did you dare 

To trade and traffic with Macbeth 

In riddles and affairs of death ; 5 

And I, the mistress of your charms, 

The close l contriver of all harms, 

Was never call'd to bear my part, 

Or show the glory of our art ? 

And, which is worse, all you have done 10 

Hath been but for a wayward son, 

Spiteful and wrathful ; who, as others do, 

Loves for his own ends, not for you. 

But make amends now : get you gone, 

And at the pit of Acheron 15 

Meet me i 7 the morning : thither he 

Will come to know his destiny. 

Your vessels and your spells provide, 

Your charms and every thing beside. 

I am for the air ; this night I '11 spend 20 

Unto a dismal and a fatal end : 

Great business must be wrought ere noon. 

Upon the corner of the moon 

There hangs a vaporous drop profound ; 

I '11 catch it ere it come to ground : 25 

And that, distill'd by magic sleights, 

Shall raise such artificial sprites 

As by the strength of their illusion 

Shall draw him on to his confusion. 

He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear 30 

Scene V. — 1 Close = secret. 



54 MACBETH. [ACT III. 

His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace, and fear : 
And you all know security 2 
Is mortals' chiefest enemy. 

\_Music and a song within : i Come away, come away,' etc. 
Hark ! I am call'd ; my little spirit, see, 35 

Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays for me. [Exit. 

First Witch. Come, let 's make haste ; she '11 soon be back 
again. [Exeunt. 

Scene VI. — Forres. TJie Palace. 

Enter Lennox and another Lord. 

Lennox. My former speeches have but hit your thoughts, 1 
Which can interpret farther : only I say 
Things have been strangely borne. 2 The gracious Duncan 
Was pitied of Macbeth: — marry, 3 he was dead; 
And the right-valiant Banquo walk'd too late ; 5 

Whom, you may say, if 't please you, Fleance kill'd, 
For Fleance fled: men must not walk too late. 
Who cannot want 4 the thought, how monstrous 
It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain 

To kill their gracious father ? damned fact ! 5 io 

How it did grieve Macbeth ! did he not straight 
In pious rage the two delinquents tear, 
That were the slaves of drink and thralls of sleep ? 
Was not that nobly done ? Ay, and wisely too; 
For 't would have anger'd any heart alive i 5 

To hear the men deny 't. So that, I say, 
He has borne all things well : and I do think 
That had he Duncan's sons under his key — 

2 Security = over-confidence. 

Scene VI. — 1 Have but hit your thoughts, etc. = they were but hints, 
to set you thinking. 

2 Borne = conducted. 

3 Marry, a mild oath = by Mary; indeed, forsooth. 

4 Who cannot ivant ? = who can want ? See Furness. 

5 Fact = deed. 



SCENE VI.] MACBETH. 55 

As, an 't please heaven he shall not — they should find 
What 't were to kill a father ; so should Fleance. 20 

But, peace ! for from broad 6 words, and 'cause he f ail'd 
His presence at the tyrant's feast, I hear 
Macduff lives in disgrace. Sir, can you tell 
Where he bestows himself ? 7 

Lord. The son of Duncan, 

From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth, 25 

Lives in the English court, and is receiv'd 
Of the most pious Edward 8 with such grace 
That the malevolence of fortune nothing 
Takes from his high respect. Thither Macduff 
Is gone to pray the holy king, upon his aid 30 

To wake Northumberland and warlike Si ward; 
That by help of these, with Him above 
To ratify the work, we may again 
Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights, 
Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives, 35 

Do faithful homage and receive free honours ; 
All which we pine for now. And this report 
Hath so exasperate the king that he 
Prepares for some attempt of war. 

Lennox. Sent he to Macduff ? 9 

Lord. He did : and with an absolute ' Sir, not I,' 40 

The cloudy messenger turns me his back, 
And hums, as who should say ' You '11 rue the time 
That clogs me with this answer.' 10 

Lennox. And that 11 well might 

Advise him to a 'caution, to hold what distance 



6 Broad = free-spoken. 

7 Where he bestows himself = to what place he has hetaken himself. 

8 The most pious Edward = Edward the Confessor, 1043-1066. 

9 Sent he to Macduff'? i.e. for aid to carry on war with Malcolm. 

10 And with an absolute, etc., i.e. having received for an answer an 
ahsolute ' Sir, not I.' 

11 That = the fact that he has given such an answer. 



56 MACBETH. [ACT 



III., SCENE VI. 



His wisdom can provide. Some holy angel 45 

Fly to the court of England and unfold 

His message ere he come, that a swift blessing 

May soon return to this our suffering country 

Under a hand accurs'd ! 

Lord. I '11 send my prayers with him ! 

\_Exeunt. 



1 



ACT IV., SCENE I.] MACBETH. 



ACT IV. 

Scene I. — A Cavern. In the Middle, a Boiling Cauldron. 
Thunder. Enter the three Witches. 

First Witch. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. 

Second Witch. Thrice and once the hedge-pig whin'd. 

TJdrd Witch. Harpier l cries, — 't is time, 't is time. 

First Witch. Bound about the cauldron go ; 
In the poison'd entrails throw. 5 

Toad, that under cold stone 
Days and nights has thirty-one 
Swelter'd venom sleeping got, 
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot. 

All. Double, double toil and trouble ; 10 

Eire burn and cauldron bubble. 

Second Witch. Fillet 2 of a fenny snake, 
In the cauldron boil and bake ; 
Eye of newt and toe of frog, 

Wool of bat and tongue of dog, i 5 

Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, 
Lizard's leg and howlet's wing, 
For a charm of powerful trouble, 
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. 

All. Double, double toil and trouble ; 20 

Fire burn and cauldron bubble. 

Third Witch. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, 
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf 
Of the ravin'd 3 salt-sea shark, 
Boot of hemlock digg'd i' the dark, 25 

Act IV., Scene I. — 1 .Harper = harpy 2 Fillet = slice. 

3 Ravin'd = ravenous. 



58 MACBETH. [ACT IV. 

Liver of blaspheming Jew, 

Gall of goat, and slips of yew 

Sliver'd 4 in the moon's eclipse, 

Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips, 

Finger of birth-strangled babe 30 

Ditch-deliver'd by a drab, 

Make the gruel thick and slab: 5 

Add thereto a tiger's chaudron, 6 

For the ingredients of our cauldron. 

All. Double, double toil and trouble ; 35 

Fire burn and cauldron bubble. 

Second Witch. Cool it with a baboon's blood, * 
Then the charm is firm and good. 

Enter- Hecate. 

Hecate. 0, well done ! I commend your pains ; 
And every one shall share i' the gains : 40 

And now about the cauldron sing, 
Like elves and fairies in a ring, 
Enchanting all that you put in. 

[Music and a song : ' Black spirits,' etc. [Hecate retires. 
Second Witch. By the pricking of my thumbs, 
Something wicked this way comes. 45 

Open, locks, 
Whoever knocks ! 

Enter Macbeth. 

Macbeth. How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags ! 
What is 't you do ? 

All. A deed without a name. 

Macbeth. I conjure you, by that which you profess, 50 

Howe'er you come to know it, answer me : 
Though you untie the winds and let them fight 

4 Sliver'd = cut into slivers. 6 Slab = sticky. 6 Chaudron = entrails. 



SCENE I.] MACBETH. 59 

Against the churches ; though the yesty waves 

Confound and swallow navigation up ; 

Though bladed corn be lodg'd and trees blown down ; 55 

Though castles topple on their warders' heads ; 

Though palaces and pyramids do slope 

Their heads to their foundations ; though the treasure 

Of nature's germens 7 tumble all together, 

Even till destruction sicken ; answer me 60 

To what I ask you. 

First Witch. Speak. 

Second Witch. Demand. 

Third Witch. We '11 answer. 

First Witch. Say, if thou 'dst rather hear it from our mouths, 
Or from our masters. 

Macbeth. Call 'em ; let me see 'em. 

First Witch. Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten 
Her nine farrow ; 8 grease that 's sweaten 9 65 

From the murtherer's gibbet throw 
Into the flame. 

All. Come, high or low ; 

Thyself and office deftly show ! 

Thunder. First Apparition : an armed Head. 

Macbeth. Tell me, thou unknown power, — 

First Witch. He knows thy thought : 

Hear his speech, but say thou nought. 70 

First Apparition. Macbeth ! Macbeth ! Macbeth ! beware 
Macduff ; 
Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me : enough. [Descends. 

Macbeth. Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution thanks ; 
Thou hast harp'd my fear aright : but one word more, — 

First Witch. He will not be commanded : here 's another, 
More potent than the first. 76 

7 Germens = seeds. 

8 Farrow = a litter of pigs. 

9 That 's sweaten = that has oozed out and fallen in drops like sweat. 



60 MACBETH. [ACT IV, 

Thunder. Second Apparition : a bloody Child. 

Second Apparition. Macbeth ! Macbeth ! Macbeth ! 

Macbeth. Had I three ears, I 'd hear thee. 

Second Apparition. Be bloody, bold, and resolute ; laugh 
to scorn 
The power of man, for none of woman born 80 

Shall harm Macbeth. [Descends. 

Macbeth. Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee? 
But yet I '11 make assurance double sure, 
And take a bond of fate : 10 thou shalt not live ; 
That u I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, 85 

And sleep in spite of thunder. 

Thunder. Third Apparition : a Child crowned, tvith a tree 
in his hand. 

What is this, 
That rises like the issue of a king, 
And wears upon his baby brow the round 
And top of sovereignty ? 

All. Listen, but speak not to 't. 

Third Apparition. Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care 
Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are : 9 j 

Macbeth shall never vanquished be until 
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill 
Shall come against him. [Descends. 

Macbeth. That will never be : 

Who can impress the forest, bid the tree 95 

Unfix his earth-bound root ? Sweet bodements ! good ! 
Rebellion's head, rise never, till the wood 
Of Birnam rise, and our high-plac'd Macbeth 

10 Take a bond of /ate = bind fate, as by a bond, to keep its promise. 
In other words, I will kill Macduff, even though, by the words just uttered, 
it seems unnecessary. 

11 That = in order that. 



SCENE I.] MACBETH. 61 

Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath 

To time and mortal custom. 12 Yet my heart ioo 

Throbs to know one thing : tell me, — if your art 

Can tell so much, — shall Banquo's issue ever 

Reign in this kingdom ? 

All. Seek to know no more. 

Macbeth. I will be satisfied : deny me this, 
And an eternal curse fall on you ! Let me know — 105 

Why sinks that cauldron ? and what noise is this ? 

[Hautboys. 

First Witch. Show! 

Seco?id Witch. Show! 

Third Witch. Show! 

All. Show his eyes, and grieve his heart ; no 

Come like shadows, so depart ! 

A show of eight Kings, the last with a glass in his hand; 
Banquo's Ghost following. 

Macbeth. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo ; down ! 
Thy crown does sear mine eyeballs. — And thy hair, 
Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first. — 
A third is like the former. — Filthy hags ! 115 

Why do you show me this ? — A fourth ! — Start, eyes ! — 
What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom ? — 
Another yet ! — A seventh ! — I '11 see no more : — 
And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass 
Which shows me many more ; and some I see 120 

That twofold balls and treble sceptres carry : 
Horrible sight ! — Now I see 't is true ; 
For the blood-bolter'd 13 Banquo smiles upon me, 
And points at them for his. — [ Apparitions vanish. 

What, is this so ? 

12 Shall live the lease of nature, etc. — shall live the allotted time for 
man, and die a natural death. 

13 Blood-bolter'd = with hair matted together with blood. 



62 MACBETH. [act iv. 

First Witch. Ay, sir, all this is so : but why 125 

Stands Macbeth thus amazeclly ? 
Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprights, 
And show the best of our delights : 
I '11 charm the air to give a sound, 
While you perform your antic round, 130 

That this great king may kindly say, 
Our duties did his welcome pay. 

[Music. The Witches dance, and then vanish, with 
Hecate. 

Macbeth. Where are they ? (lone ? Let this pernicious 
hour 
Stand aye accursed in the calendar ! — 
Come in, without there ! 

Enter Lennox. 

Lennox. What's your grace's will ? 135 

Macbeth. Saw you the weird sisters ? 

Lennox. No, my lord. 

Macbeth. Came they not by you ? 

Lennox. No indeed, my lord. 

Macbeth. Infected be the air whereon they ride ; 
And damn'd all those that trust them ! — I did hear 
The galloping of horse : who was 't came by ? 140 

Lennox. 'T is two or three, my lord, that bring you 
word Macduff is fled to England. 

Macbeth. Eled to England ! 

Lennox. Ay, my good lord. 

Macbeth. [Aside] Time, thou anticipat'st my dread ex- 
ploits : 
The flighty purpose never is o'ertook 145 

Unless the deed go with it. From this moment 
The very firstlings of my heart shall be 
The firstlings of my hand.y And even now, 
To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done : 



SCENE II.] MACBETH. 63 

The castle of Macduff I will surprise, 150 

Seize upou Fife, give to the edge o' the sword 

His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls 

That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool ; 

This deed I '11 do before this purpose cool. 

But no more sights ! 14 — Where are these gentlemen ? 155 

Come, bring me where they are. [Exeunt. 

Scene II. — Fife. A Room in Macduff's Castle. 
Enter Lady Macduff, her Son, and Ross. 

Lady Macduff. What had he done, to make him fly the 
land ? 

Ross. You must have patience, madam. 

Lady Macduff. He had none ; 

His flight was madness : when our actions do not, 
Our fears do make us traitors. 1 

Ross. You know not 

Whether it was his wisdom or his fear. 5 

Lady Macduff. Wisdom ! to leave his wife, to leave his 
babes, 
His mansion and his titles, in a place 
From whence himself does fly ? He loves us not ; 
He wants the natural touch : for the poor wren, 
The most diminutive of birds, will fight, 10 

Her young ones in her nest, against the owL 
All is the fear, and nothing is the love ; 
As little is the wisdom, where' the flight 
So runs against all reason. 

Ross. My dearest coz, 

I pray you, school yourself: but for your husband, 2 15 

14 Sights = like those seen in the cavern. 

Scene II. — 1 When our actions do not, etc. = we may be innocent of 
any treasonable act, yet by fleeing through fear, we immediately become 
traitors in the eyes of the world, that can judge only from appearances. 

2 I pray you, school yourself, etc. = i.e. I pray you try to control your- 
self ; but as far as your husband is concerned, he is noble, etc- 



64 MACBETH. [ACT IV. 

He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows 

The fits o' the season. 3 I dare not speak much further ; 

But cruel are the times, when we are traitors 

And do not know ourselves ; 4 when we hold rumour 

From what we fear, yet know not what we fear, 5 20 

But float upon a wild and violent sea 

Each way and move. I take my leave of you ; 

Shall not be long but I '11 be here again. 

Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward 

To what they were before. My pretty cousin, 25 

Blessing upon you ! 

Lad>/ Mac<hff. Father'd he is, and yet he 's fatherless. 

lioss. I am so much a fool, should I stay longer, 
It would be my disgrace and your discomfort : 6 
I take my leave^once. [Exit. 

Lady Macduff. Sirrah, your father 's dead : 30 

And what will you do now ? How will you live ? 

Son. As birds do, mother. 

Lady Macduff. AVhat, with worms and flies ? 

Son. With what I get, I mean; and so do they. 

Lady Macduff. Poor bird ! thou 'dst never fear the net 
nor lime, 
The pitfall nor the gin. 35 

Son. Why should I. mother ? Poor birds they are not 
set for. 7 
My father is not dead, for all your saying. 

Luady Macduff. Yes, he is dead : how wilt thou do for a 
father ? 



3 The fits o' the season = what befits the season, i.e. the timely thing to 
do. 

4 And do not knoio ourselves = do not know that we are traitors. 

5 When we hold rumour, etc. ' ' Fear makes us credit rumor, yet we know 
not what to fear, because ignorant when we offend." — Hudson. 

6 It would be my disgrace, etc. = I should give way to my feelings and 
burst into tears. 

7 Poor birds, etc. = they are not set for worthless birds, like me. 



SCENE II.] y MACBETH. 65 

So7i. Nay, how will you do for a husband ? 

Lady Macduff. Why, I can buy ine twenty at any 
market. 40 

Son. Then you '11 buy 'em to sell again. 8 

Lady Macduff. Thou speak'st with all thy wit, and yet, 
i' faith, 
With wit enough for thee. 9 

Son. Was my father a traitor, mother ? 

Lady Macduff. Ay, that he was. 45 

Son. What is a traitor ? 

Lady Macduff. Why, one that swears and lies. 

Son. And be all traitors that do so ? 

Lady Macduff. Every one that does so is a traitor, and 
must be hanged. 50 

Son. And must they all be hanged that swear and lie ? 

Lady Macduff. Every one. 

Son. Who must hang them ? 

Lady Macduff. Why, the honest men. 54 

Son. Then the liars and swearers are fools, for there are 
liars and swearers enow to beat the honest men and hang up 
them. 

Lady Macduff. Now, God help thee, poor monkey ! But 
how wilt thou do for a father ? 59 

Son. If he were dead, you'd weep for him : if you would 
not, it were a good sign that I should quickly have a new 
father. 

Lady Macduff. Poor prattler, how thou talk'st ! 

Enter a Messenger. 

Messenger. Bless you, fair dame ! I am not to you known, 
Though in your state of honour I am perfect. 10 65 

I doubt some danger does approach you nearly : 

8 To sell again, i.e. you will not want to keep so many. 

9 With wit enough for thee — yet you have wit enough for one so young. 
10 I" am perfect = I know perfectly your high character. 



66 MACBETH. [ACT IV. 

If you will take a homely man's advice, 

Be not found here j hence, with your little ones. 

To fright you thus, methinks I am too savage; 

To do worse to you were fell cruelty, 11 70 

Which is too nigh your person. Heaven preserve you! 

I dare abide no longer. [Exit. 

Lady Macduff. Whither should I fly ? 

I have done no harm. But I remember now 
I am in this earthly world, where to do harm 
Is often laudable, to do good sometime 75 

Accounted dangerous folly : why then, alas, 
Do I put up that womanly defence, 
To say I have done no harm ? — 

Enter Murderers. 

What are these faces ? 
First Murderer. Where is your husband ? 
Lady Macduff. I hope, in no place so unsanctified 80 

Where such as thou mayst find him. 

First Murderer. He 's a traitor. 

Son. Thou liest, thou shag-hair'd villain ! 
First Murderer. What, you egg ! 

[Stabbing him. 
Young fry of treachery ! 

Son. He has kill'd me, mother : 

Run away, I pray you ! [Dies. 

[Exit Lady Macduff, crying ' Murther ! ' 
Exeunt Murderers, following her. 

Scene III. — England. Before the King's Palace. 

Enter Malcolm and Macduff. 

Malcolm. Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there 
Weep our sad bosoms empty. 

11 To do worse, etc. = to frighten you more by telling you all the danger 
near you. 



SCENE 



HI.] MACBETH. 67 



Macduff. Let us rather 

Hold fast the mortal l sword, and like good men 
Bestride our down-fallen birthdom. 2 Each new morn 
New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows c 

Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds 
As if it felt with Scotland and yell'd out 
Like 3 syllable of dolour. 

Malcolm. What I believe, I '11 wail ; 

What know, believe ; and what I can, redress, 
As I shall find the time to friend, 4 1 will. ic 

What you have spoke, it may be so perchance. 
This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues, 5 
Was once thought honest : you have lov'd him well ; 
He hath not touch' d you yet. I am young; but some- 
thing 
You may deserve of him through me, and wisdom 15 

To offer up a weak poor innocent lamb 
To appease an angry god. 6 

Macduff. I am not treacherous. 

Malcolm. But Macbeth is. 

A good and virtuous nature may recoil 

In an imperial charge. 7 But I shall crave your pardon ; 8 2c 
That which you are my thoughts cannot transpose ; 
Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell ; 



Scene III. — 1 Mortal = deadly. 

2 Bestride our down/alien birthdom = let us stand over and defend the 
land of our birth, now fallen and unable to defend itself. 

3 Like — the same. 

4 To friend = to befriend. 

5 Whose sole name, etc. — the mere pronouncing of whose name blisters 
the tongue. 

6 You may deserve of him, etc. = you may, perhaps, gain something 
from him by destroying me, and it would certainly seem to be wisdom in 
you to sacrifice a powerless creature like me, if by so doing you could gain 
the good will of an angry king like Macbeth. 

7 A good and virtuous nature, etc. = even a good and virtuous nature 
may not be able to withstand the temptations brought by royalty. 

8 Pardon, i.e. for his doubts concerning him. 



68 MACBETH. [ACT IV. 

Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace, 
Yet grace must still look so. 9 

Macduff. I have lost my hopes. 

Malcolm. Perchance even there where I did find my 

doubts. 10 25 

Why in that rawness left you wife and child, 
Those precious motives, those strong knots of love, 
Without leave-taking ? I pray you, 
Let not my jealousies be your dishonours, 
But mine own safeties : you may be rightly just, 30 

Whatever I shall think. 

Macduff. Bleed, bleed, poor country ! 

Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, 
For goodness dare not check thee ! wear thou thy wrongs > 
The title is aff eer'd ! n — Fare thee well, lord : 
I would not be the villain that thou think'st 35 

For the whole space that 's in the tyrant's grasp, 
And the rich East to boot. 

Malcolm. Be not offended : 

I speak not as in absolute fear of you. 
I think our country sinks beneath the yoke ; 
It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash 40 

Is added to her wounds : I think withal 
There would 12 be hands uplifted in my right ; 
And here from gracious England have I offer 
Of goodly thousands ; but for all this, 

When I shall tread upon the tyrant's head, 45 

Or wear it' on my sword, yet my poor country 
Shall have more vices than it had before, 



9 Though, all things foul, etc. = though all things that are foul should 
try to appear fair and noble, yet would true grace be easily discerned. In 
other words, " You appear to be noble, and you may be so in reality." 

10 Perchance even there, etc., i.e. perchance you mean that you have 
lost your hopes of ruining me ; if so, then my fears were true. 

11 Aff eer'd — established. 

12 Would, sc. if I so wished it. 



SCENE III.] MACBETH. 69 

More suffer, and more sundry M ways than ever, 
By him that shall succeed. 

Macduff. What should he be ? 

Malcolm. It is myself I mean ; in whom I know 50 

All the particulars of vice so grafted 
That, when they shall be open'd, black Macbeth 
Will seem as pure as snow, and the poor state 
Esteem him as a lamb, being compar'd 
With my confineless harms. 

Macduff. Not in the legions 55 

Of horrid hell can come a devil more damn'd 
In evils to top Macbeth. 

Malcolm. I grant him bloody, 

Luxurious, 14 avaricious, false, deceitful, 
Sudden, 15 malicious, smacking of every sin 
That has a name ; but there 's no bottom, none, 60 

In my voluptuousness : your wives, your daughters, 
Your matrons and your maids, could not fill up 
The cistern of my lust, and my desire 
All continent impediments would o'erbear 
That did oppose my will. Better Macbeth 65 

Than such an one to reign. 

Macduff. Boundless intemperance 

In nature 16 is a tyranny ; it hath been 
The untimely emptying of the happy throne, 
And fall of many kings. But fear not yet 
To take upon you what is yours ; ir you may 70 

Convey 18 your pleasures in a spacious plenty, 
And yet seem cold, the time you may so hoodwink. 
We have willing dames enough ; there cannot be 

13 Swidry = various. 

14 Luxurious = lascivious, full of lust. 

15 Sudden = passionate, violent in temper. 

16 In nature — in its very nature. 

17 What is yours, i.e. what would be your right were you king. 

18 Convey = indulge secretly. 



70 MACBETH. [ACT IV. 

That vulture in you, to devour so many 

As will to greatness dedicate themselves, 75 

Finding it so inclin'd. 

Malcolm. With this there grows 

In my most ill-compos'd affection such 
A stanchless avarice that, were I king, 
I should cut off the nobles for their lands, 
Desire his jewels and this other's house; 80 

And my more-having would be as a sauce 
To make me hunger more, that I should forge 19 
Quarrels unjust against the good and loyal, 
Destroying them for wealth. 

Macduff. This avarice 

Sticks deeper, grows with more pernicious root 85 

Than summer-seeming lust, 20 and it hath been 
The sword of our slain kings : yet do not fear ; 
Scotland hath foisons 21 to fill up your will, 
Of your mere own. All these are portable, 22 
With other graces weigh'd. 9 o 

Malcolm. But I have none : the king-becoming graces, 
As justice, verity, 23 temperance, stableness, 
Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness, 
Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude, 

I have no relish of them, but abound 95 

In the division of 24 each several crime, 
Acting it in many ways. Nay, had I power, I should 
Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell, 
Uproar the universal peace, confound 
All unity on earth. 

19 Forge = fabricate. 

20 Summer-seeming lust = lust which is like summer, since it burns 
fiercely for a time, but, unlike avarice, is only for a season. 

21 Foisons = plenty. 

22 Portable = bearable. We can bear this if you have other graces. 

23 Verity = truthfulness. 

24 The division of= every form of. 



SCENE in.] MACBETH. 71 

Macduff. Scotland, Scotland! ioo 

Malcolm. If such a one be fit to govern, speak : 
I am as I have spoken. 

Macduff. Fit to govern ! 

~No, not to live. — nation miserable ! 
With an untitled tyrant bloody-scepter'd 
When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again, 105 

Since that the truest issue of thy throne 
By his own interdiction stands accurs'd, 
And does blaspheme his breed ? — Thy royal father 
Was a most sainted king : the queen that bore thee, 
Oftener upon her knees than on her feet, no 

Died every day she liv'd. — Fare thee well ! 
These evils thou repeat'st upon thyself 
Have banish'd me from Scotland. — my breast, 
Thy hope ends here ! 

Malcolm. Macduff, this noble passion, 

Child of integrity, hath from my soul 115 

Wip'd the black scruples, reconcil'd my thoughts 
To thy good truth and honour. Devilish Macbeth 
By many of these trains hath sought to win me 
Into his power, and modest wisdom plucks me 
Prom over-credulous haste : ^ but God above 120 

Deal between thee and me ! for even now 
I put myself to thy direction, and 
Unspeak mine own detraction, 26 here abjure 
The taints and blames I laid upon myself, 
For strangers to my nature. I am yet 125 

Unknown to woman, never was forsworn, 
Scarcely have coveted what was mine own, 
At no time broke my faith, would not betray 

25 Modest wisdom, etc. = I am suspicious of my own powers, I have not an 
over-confidence in my own ability to discern a man's motives, and so with 
strangers I am often over careful. 

26 Unspeak mine own detraction = take back all that I have said against 
my own character. 



72 MACBETH. [ACT IV. 

The devil to his fellow, and delight 

No less in truth than life: my first false speaking 130 

Was this upon myself. What I am truly, 

Is thine and my poor country's to command; 

Whither indeed, before thy here-approach, 

Old Siward, with ten thousand warlike men, 

Already at a point, was setting forth. i 35 

Now we'll together, and the chance of goodness 

Be like our warranted quarrel ! Why are you silent ? 

Macduff. Such welcome and unwelcome things at once 
'T is hard to reconcile. 

Enter a Doctor. 

Malcolm. Well, more anon. — Comes the king forth, I pray 
you ? 140 

Doctor. Ay, sir ; there are a crew of wretched souls 
That stay his cure: their malady convinces 
The great assay of art ; w but at his touch, 
Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand, 
They presently amend. 

Malcolm. I thank you, doctor. [Exit Doctor. 145 

Macduff. What 's the disease he means ? 

Malcolm. 'T is call'd the evil : 

A most miraculous work in this good king ; 
Which often, since my here-remain in England, 
I have seen him do. How he solicits heaven, 
Himself best knows : but strangely-visited people, 150 

All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye, 
The mere despair of surgery, he cures, 
Hanging a golden stamp about their necks, 
Put on with holy prayers ; and 't is spoken, 
To the succeeding royalty he leaves 155 

27 Their malady, etc. = the utmost skill of physicians is powerless to 
cure their diseases. 



SCENE III.] MACBETH. 73 

The healing benediction. With this strange virtue, 
He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy, 
And sundry blessings hang about his throne 
That speak him full of grace. 

Enter Ross. 

Macduff. See, who comes here ? 

Malcolm. My countryman ; but yet I know him not. 160 

Macduff. My ever-gentle cousin, welcome hither. 

Malcolm. I know him now. Good God, betimes remove 
The means that makes us strangers ! 28 

Boss. Sir, amen. 

Macduff. Stands Scotland where it did ? 

Boss. Alas, poor country ! 

Almost afraid to know itself. 29 It cannot 165 

Be call'd our mother, but our grave ; where nothing, 
But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile ; 30 
Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rent the air 
Are made, not mark'd ; 31 where violent sorrow seems 
A modern ecstasy : the dead man's knell 170 

Is there scarce ask'd for who; and good men's lives 
Expire before the flowers in their caps, 
Dying or ere they sicken. 

Macduff 0, relation 32 

Too nice, 33 and yet too true ! 

» Malcolm. What 's the newest grief ? 

Boss. That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker ; 34 175 
Each minute teems a new one. 

28 Betimes remove the means = speedily remove the causes. 

29 To knoiv itself = to acknowledge its own identity. 

30 Where nothing = no one smiles save those who know nothing. 

31 Not mark'd = no one heeds them. 

32 Relation = narrative. 

33 Too nice = too elaborate. 

34 That of an hour's age, etc. = tragedies come so thick and fast that 



74 MACBETH. [ACT IV. 

Macduff. How does my wife ? 

Ross. Why, well. 

Macduff. And all my children ? 

Boss. Well too. 

Macduff. The tyrant has not batter'd at their peace ? 

Boss. No; they were well at peace when I did leave 
'em. 

Macduff. Be not a niggard of your speech : how goes 't ? 180 

Moss. When I came hither to transport the tidings, 
Which I have heavily borne, there ran a rumour 
Of many worthy fellows that were out ; ** 
Which was to my belief witness'd the rather, 
For that I saw the tyrant's power a-foot. 185 

Now is the time of help ; your eye in Scotland 
Would create soldiers, make our women fight, 
To doff M their dire distresses. 

Malcolm. Be 't their comfort 

We are coming thither : gracious England hath 
Lent us good Si ward and ten thousand men ; 190 

An older and a better soldier none 
That Christendom gives out. 

Boss. Would I could answer 

This comfort with the like ! But I have words 
That would be howl'd out in the desert air, 
Where hearing should not latch 37 them. 

Macduff. What concern they? 195 

The general cause ? or is it a fee-grief 38 
Due to some single breast ? 

Ross. No mind that 's honest 

But in it shares some woe, though the main part 
Pertains to you alone. 

35 Out, i.e. in revolt. 

36 Doff= do off, lay aside. 
3 " Latch = catch. 

38 A fee-grief = a grief of which one person has sole possession. 



SCENE III.] MACBETH. 75 

Macduff. If it be mine, 

Keep it not from me, quickly let me have it. 200 

Ross. Let not your ears despise my tongue for ever, 
Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound 
That ever yet they heard. 

Macduff. Hum ! I guess at it. 

Ross. Your castle is surpris'd ; your wife and babes 
Savagely slaughter' d : to relate the manner, 205 

Were, on the quarry 39 of these murther'd deer, 
To add the death of you. 

Malcolm. Merciful heaven ! — 

What, man ! ne'er pull your hat upon your brows ; 
Give sorrow words : the grief that does not speak 
Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break. 210 

Macduff. My children too ? 

Ross. Wife, children, servants, all 

That could be found. 

Macduff. And I must be from thence ! — 40 

My wife kill'd too ? 

Ross. I have said. 

Malcolm. Be comforted : 

Let 's make us medicines of our great revenge, 
To cure this deadly grief. 215 

Macduff. He has no children. — All my pretty ones ? 
Did you say all ? — hell-kite ! — All ? 
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam 
At one fell swoop ? 

Malcolm. Dispute it 41 like a man. 

Macduff. I shall do so ; 220 

But I must also feel it as a man : 
I cannot but remember such things were, 



39 Quarry = a heap of dead game. Should I tell you the manner of 
their death it would surely bring death to you also. 

40 And I must be from thence = and I away from home at the time ! 

41 Dispute it — contend with your grief. 



76 



MACBETH. 



[ACT IV., SCENE III. 



230 



That were most precious to me. — Did heaven look on, 

And would not take their part ? Sinful Macduff, • 

They were all struck for thee ! nought that I am, 225 

Not for their own demerits, but for mine, 

Fell slaughter on their souls. Heaven rest them now ! 

Malcolm. Be this the whetstone of your sword : let grief 
Convert 42 to anger ; blunt not the heart, enrage it. 

Macduff. 0, I could play the woman with mine eyes 
And braggart with my tongue ! — But, gentle heavens, 
Cut short all intermission ; front to front 
Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself; 
Within my sword's length set him ; if he scape, 
Heaven forgive him too ! 

Malcolm. This tune goes manly. 43 

Come, go we to the king : our power is ready ; 
Our lack is nothing but our leave. 44 Macbeth 
Is ripe for shaking, and the powers above 
Put on their instruments. 4,5 Receive what cheer you may ; 
The night is long that never finds the day. 240 

[Exeunt. 

42 Convert = turn. 

43 This tune goes manly = you are talking like a man now. 

44 Our lack is nothing but our leave = the only thing there remains now 
to he done is to take leave of the king. 

45 Put on their instruments. " Encourage, thrust forward us, their in- 
struments, against the tyrant." — Steevens, quoted by Furness. 



2 35 



ACT V., SCENE I.] MACBETH. 77 



ACT V. 

Scene I. — Dunsinane. A Room in the Castle. 
Enter a Doctor of .Physic and a Waiting Gentlewoman. 

Doctor. I have two nights watched with you, but can per- 
ceive no truth in your report. When was it she last walked ? 

Gentleivoman. Since his majesty went into the field, I have 
seen her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown upon her, 
unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon ? t, read 
it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed ; yet all this 
while in a most fast sleep. 7 

Doctor. A great perturbation in nature, to receive at once 
the benefit of sleep and do the effects of watching ! In this 
slumbery agitation, besides her walking and other actual 
performances, what at any time have you heard her say ? u 

Gentlewoman. That, sir, which I will not report after her. 

Doctor. You may to me, and 't is most meet you should. 

Gentlewoman. Neither to you nor to any one, having no 
witness to confirm my speech. 15 

Enter Lady Macbeth, with a taper. 

Lo you, here she comes ! This is her very guise ; and, upon 
my life, fast asleep. Observe her ; stand close. 

Doctor. How came she by that light ? 

Gentlewoman. Why, it stood by her : she has light by her 
continually ; ; t is her command. 20 

Doctor. You see, her eyes are open. 

Gentlewoman. Ay, but their sense is shut. 

Doctor. What is it she does now ? Look, how she rubs 
her hands. 



78 MACBETH. [ACT V. 

Gentlewoman. It is an accustomed action with her, to 
seem thus washing her hands : I have known her to continue 
in this a quarter of an hour. 

Lady Macbeth. Yet here 's a spot. 

Doctor. Hark ! she speaks : I will set down what comes 
from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly. 1 30 

Lady Macbeth. Out, damned spot ! out, I say ! — One : two : 
why, then 't is time to do 't. — Hell is murky ! — Fie, my lord, 
fie ! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows 
it, when none can call our power to account ? — Yet who 
would have thought the old man to have had so much 
blood in him ? 36 

Doctor. Do you mark that ? 

Lady Macbeth. The thane of Fife had a wife : where is 
she now ? — What, will these hands ne'er be clean ? — No 
more o' that, my lord, no more o' that : you mar all with 
this starting. 41 

Doctor. Go to, go to ; you have known what you should 
not. 

Gentlewoman. She has spoke what she should not, I am 
sure of that : heaven knows what she has known. 45 

Lady Macbeth. Here 's the smell of the blood still : all the 
perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, 
oh, oh ! 

Doctor. What a sigh is there ! The heart is sorely 
charged. 50 

Gentlewoman. I would not have such a heart in my 
bosom for the dignity of the whole body. 2 

Doctor. Well, well, well, — 

Gentlewoman. Pray God it be, sir. 

Doctor. This disease is beyond my practice : yet I have 

Act V., Scene I. — 1 1 will set down. So that he may have exact data 
when he considers the case with a view to treatment. 

2 For the dignity of the whole body = I would not have such a heart 
even if with it I might have all the rest of my body perfect. 



SCENE II.] MACBETH. 79 

known those which, have walked in their sleep who have 
died holily in their beds. 57 

Lady Macbeth. Wash your hands, put on your nightgown ; 
look not so pale. — I tell you yet again, Banquo 's buried ; he 
cannot come out on ? s grave. 60 

Doctor. Even so ? 

Lady Macbeth. To bed, to bed ! there 's knocking at the 
gate : come, come, come, come, give me your hand. What 's 
done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed ! [Exit. 

Doctor. Will she go now to bed ? 65 

Gentlewoman. Directly. 

Doctor. Foul whisperings are abroad. Unnatural deeds 
Do breed unnatural troubles : infected minds 
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets. 
More needs she the divine than the physician. — 70 

God, God forgive us all ! — Look after her ; 
Eemove from her the means of all annoyance, 
And still keep eyes upon her. So, good night : 
My mind she has mated, 3 and amaz'd my sight. 
I think, but dare not speak. 

Gentlewoman. Good night, good doctor. 75 

[Exeunt. 

Scene II. — TJie Country near Dunsinane. 

Drum and colours. Enter Menteith, Caithness, Angus, 
Lennox, and Soldiers. 

Menteith. The English power is near, led on by Malcolm, 
His uncle Siward, and the good Macduff. 
Revenges burn in them ; for their dear causes 
Would to the bleeding and the grim alarm 
Excite the mortified man. 1 5 

3 Mated = confounded, astonished. 

Scene II. — 1 Would to the bleeding, etc. = would excite to bloody deeds 
and to the grim alarm of war even the dead. Mortified man may mean 
one literally dead, or one dead to the world in a spiritual sense. 



80 MACBETH. [act V. 

Angus. Near Birnani wood 

Shall we well meet them ; that way are they coming. 

Caithness. Who knows if Donalbain be with his brother ? 

Lennox. For certain, sir, he is not. I have a file 
Of all the gentry : there is Siward's son, 
And many unrough 2 youths, that even now 10 

Protest their first of manhood. 

Menteith. What does the tyrant ? 

Caithness. Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies. 
Some say he's mad; others, that lesser hate him, 
Do call it valiant fury : but, for certain, 
He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause - 15 

Within the belt of rule. 

Angus. Now does he feel 

His secret murthers sticking on his hands ; 
Now minutely 3 revolts upbraid his faith-breach : 4 
Those he commands move only in command, 
Nothing in love ; now does he feel his title 20 

Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe 
Upon a dwarfish thief. 

Menteith. Who then shall blame 

His pester'd senses to recoil 5 and start, 
When all that is within him does condemn 
Itself for being there ? 

Caithness. Well, march we on. 25 

To give obedience where 't is truly owed : 
Meet we the medicine 6 of the sickly weal, 
And with him pour we in our country's purge 
Each drop of us. 

Lennox. Or so much as it needs, 

To dew the sovereign flower and drown the weeds. 30 

Make we our march towards Birnam. \_Exeunt, marching. 

2 Unrough = smooth-faced. 3 Minutely = occurring every minute. 

4 Faith-breach = his breach of faith in the case of Duncan. 

6 To recoil = for recoiling. 

6 Medicine = physician, referring to Malcolm. 



SCENE III.] MACBETH. 81 

Scene III. — Dunsinane. A Room i?i the Castle. 

Enter Macbeth, Doctor, and Attendants. 

Macbeth. Bring me no more reports ; let them fly all 
Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane, 
I cannot taint with fear. What 's the boy Malcolm ? 
Was he not born of woman ? The spirits that know 
All mortal consequences have pronounc'd me thus : 5 

1 Fear not, Macbeth ; no man that 's born of woman 
Shall e'er have power upon thee.' Then fly, false thanes, 
And mingle with the English epicures : 
The mind I sway by 1 and the heart I bear 
Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear. io 

Enter a Servant. 

The devil damn thee black, thou cream-f ac'd loon ! 2 
Where gott'st thou that goose look ? 

Servant. There is ten thousand — 

Macbeth. Geese, villain ? 

Servant. Soldiers, sir. 

Macbeth. Go prick thy face, and over-red thy fear, 
Thou lily-liver'd boy. What soldiers, patch ? 3 15 

Death of thy soul ! those linen cheeks of thine 
Are counsellors to fear. What soldiers, whey-face ? 

Servant. The English force, so please you. 

Macbeth. Take thy face hence. — [Exit Servant. 

Seyton ! — I am sick at heart, 
When I behold — Seyton, I say ! — This push 20 

Will cheer me ever, or disseat me now. 4 

Scene III. — 1 The mind I sway by = the mind by which I am moved ; 
or, which guides my movements. 

2 Loo?i = rogue. 

3 Patch = clown. 

4 This push, etc. = this conflict will be decisive. It will, if I win, make 
the rest of my days secure ; or it will, if I lose, force me at once from the 
throne. See Furness. 



82 MACBETH. [ACT V. 

I have iiv'd long enough : my way of life 

Is fallen into the sear, the yellow leaf, 

And that which should accompany old age, 

As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, 25 

I must not look to have ; but, in their stead, 

Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath, 

Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not. — 

Seyton ! 

Enter Seyton. 

Seyton. What 's your gracious pleasure ? 

Macbeth. What news more ? 30 

Seyton. All is confirmed, my lord, which was reported. 

Macbeth. I '11 fight till from my bones my flesh be hack'd. 
Give me my armour. 

Seyton. 'T is not needed yet. 

Macbeth. I'll put it on. 
Send out moe 5 horses, skirr 6 the country round; 35 

Hang those that talk of fear. Give me mine armour. — 
How does your patient, doctor ? 

Doctor. Not so sick, my lord, 

As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies, 
That keep her from her rest. 

Macbeth. Cure her of that. 

Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd, 40 

Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, 
Raze out the written troubles of the brain, 
And with some sweet oblivious antidote 
Cleanse the .stuff' d bosom of that perilous stuff 
Which weighs upon the heart ? 

Doctor. Therein the patient 45 

Must minister to himself. 

Macbeth. Throw physic to the dogs, I '11 none of it. — 
Come, put mine armour on ; give me my staff. — 

6 Moe = more. 6 Skirr = scour. 



SCENE IV.] MACBETH. 83 

Seyton, send out — Doctor, the thanes fly from me. — 

Come, sir, dispatch. — If thou couldst, doctor, cast 50 

The water of my land, find her disease, 

And purge it to a sound and pristine health, 

I would applaud thee to the very echo, 

That should applaud again. — Pull 't off, I say. — 

What rhubarb, senna, or what purgative drug, 55 

Would scour these English hence ? Hear'st thou of them ? 

Doctor. Ay, my good lord ; your royal preparation 
Makes us hear something. 

Macbeth. Bring it after me. — 

I will not be afraid of death and bane 
Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane. [Exit. 60 

Doctor. Were I from Dunsinane away and clear, 
Profit again should hardly draw me here. [Exit. 

Scene IV. — Country near Birnam Wood. 

Drum and colours. Enter Malcolm, old Siwakd and his 
Son, Macduff, Menteith, Caithness, Angus, Lennox, 
Ross, and Soldiers, marching. 

Malcolm. Cousins, I hope the days are near at hand 
That chambers will be safe. 

Menteith. We doubt it nothing. 

Siward. What wood is this before us ? 

Menteith. The wood of Birnam. 

Malcolm. Let every soldier hew him down a bough, 
And bear 't before him ; thereby shall we shadow 5 

The numbers of our host, and make discovery 
Err in report of us. 

Soldiers. It shall be done. 

Shvard. We learn no other but the confident 
Keeps still in Dunsinane, and will endure 
Our setting down before 't. 1 

Scene IV. — 1 Setting down before H = besieging it. 



84 MACBETH. [ACT V. 

Malcolm. 'T is his main hope ; 10 

For where there is advantage to be given, 
Both more and less 2 have given him the revolt, 
And none serve with him but constrained things 
Whose hearts are absent too. 

Macduff. Let our just censures 

Attend the true event, and put we on 15 

Industrious soldiership. 3 

Siward. The time approaches 

That will with due decision make us know 
What we shall say we have and what we owe. 
Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate, 
But certain issue strokes must arbitrate ; 4 20 

Towards which advance the war. [Exeunt, marching. 

Scene V. — Dansinane. Within the Castle. 

Enter Macbeth, Seyton, and Soldiers, with drum and 
colours. 

Macbeth. Hang out our banners on the outward walls ; 
The cry is still ' They come ! ' Our castle's strength 
Will laugh a siege to scorn ; here let them lie 
Till famine and the ague eat them up. 

Were they not forc'd * with those that should be ours, 5 

We might have met them dareful, beard to beard, 
And beat them backward home. [A cry of women within. 

What is that noise ? 

Seyton. It is the cry of women, my good lord. [Exit. 

2 More and less = great and small. 

3 Let our just censures, etc. "Let our just decisions on the defection 
of Macbeth's followers attend upon the actual result of the battle, and let 
us meantime be industrious soldiers ; that is, let us not be negligent 
through security." — Elwin, quoted by Rolfe. 

4 Thoughts speculative, etc. "The old war-horse means, There's no 
use talking about it, and eating the air of expectation ; nothing but plain 
old-fashioned fighting will decide the matter." — Hudson. 

Scene V. — 1 Forc'd == reinforced. 



SCENE V.] MACBETH. 85 

Macbeth. I have almost forgotten the taste of fears : 
The time has been, my senses would have cool'd 10 

To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair 
Would at a dismal treatise 2 rouse and stir 
As life were in 't. I have supp'd full with horrors ; 
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts, 
Cannot once start me. — 

Re-enter Seyton. 

Wherefore was that cry ? 15 

Seyton. The queen, my lord, is dead. 

Macbeth. She should 3 have died hereafter ; . 
There would have been a time for such a word. 
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, 
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day 20 

To the last syllable of recorded time, 
And all oar yesterdays have lighted fools 
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle ! 
Life ? s but a walking shadow, a poor player 
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage 25 

And then is heard no more ; it is a tale 
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, 
Signifying nothing. — 

Enter a Messenger. 

Thou com'st to use thy tongue ; thy story quickly. 

Messenger. Gracious my lord, 30 

I should report that which I say I saw, 
But know not how to do it. 

Macbeth. Well, say, sir. 

Messenger. As I did stand my watch upon the hill, 

2 Treatise = tale. 

3 Should — would. She would have died sometime. There must inevi- 
tably have come a time for such a message. 



86 MACBETH. [act v. 

I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought, 

The wood began to move. 

Macbeth. Liar and slave ! 35 

Messenger. Let me endure your wrath, if 't be not so : 

Within this three mile may you see it coming ; 

I say, a moving grove. 

Macbeth. If thou speak'st false, 

Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive 

Till famine cling 4 thee ; if thy speech be sooth, 5 40 

I care not if thou dost for me as much. — 

I pull in 6 resolution, and begin 

To doubt the equivocation of the iiend 

That lies like truth : 'Fear not, till Birnam wood 

Do come to Dunsinane ; ' and now a wood 45 

Comes toward Dunsinane. — Arm, arm, and out ! — 

If this which he avouches does appear, 

There is nor flying hence nor tarrying here. 

I gin to be aweary of the sun, 

And wish the estate o' the world were now undone. — 50 

Ring the alarum-bell ! — blow, wind ! come, wrack ! 

At least we '11 die with harness on our back. [Exeunt. 

Scene VI. — Dunsinane. Before the Castle. 

Drum and colours. Enter Malcolm, old Siward, Macduff, 
and their Army, with boughs. 

Malcolm. Now near enough: your leavy screens throw 
down, 
And show like those you are. 1 — You, worthy uncle, 
Shall with my cousin, your right-noble son, 
Lead our first battle ; 2 worthy Macduff and we 

4 Cling thee = dry thee up. 5 Sooth = true. 

6 Pull in — rein in. Figure taken from horsemanship. 

Scene VI. — 1 And shoio like those you are = reveal what you really are. 

2 First battle = the van of the army. 



SCENE VII.] MACBETH. 87 

Shall take upon 's what else remains to do, 5 

According to our order. 

Siward. Fare you well. 

Do we but find the tyrant's power to-night, 
Let us be beaten, if we cannot fight. 

Macduff. Make all our trumpets speak; give them all 
breath, 
Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death. [Exeunt. 10 



Scene VII. — Another Part of the Field. 

Alarums. Enter Macbeth. 

Macbeth. They have tied me to a stake ; I cannot fly, 
But, bear-like, I must fight the course. What 's he 
That was not born of woman ? Such a one 
Am I to fear, or none. 

Enter young Siward. 

Young Siward. What is thy name ? 

Macbeth. Thou 'It be afraid to hear it. 5 

Young Siward. No ; though thou call'st thyself a hotter 
name 
Than any is in hell. 

Macbeth. My name 's Macbeth. 

Young Siward. The devil himself could not pronounce a 
title 
More hateful to mine ear. 

Macbeth. No, nor more fearful. 9 

Young Siioard. Thouliest, abhorred tyrant ; with my sword 
I '11 prove the lie thou speak'st. 

[They fight, and young Siicard is slain. 

Macbeth. Thou wast born of woman. — 

But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, 
Brandish'd by man that 's of a woman born. [Exit 



88 MACBETH. [ACT v. 



Alarums. Enter Macduff. 

Macduff. That way the noise is. — Tyrant, show thy face ! 
If thou be'st slain and with no stroke of mine, 15 

My wife and children's ghosts will haunt me still. 
I cannot strike at wretched kerns, whose arms 
Are hir'd to bear their staves : either thou, Macbeth, 
Or else my sword with an unbatter'd edge 
I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst be ; 20 

By this great clatter, one of greatest note 
Seems bruited. 1 Let me find him, fortune ! 
And more I beg not. [Exit. Alarums. 

Enter Malcolm and old Siward. 

Siward. This way, my lord. The castle's gently render'd : 2 
The tyrant's people on both sides do fight ; 25 

The noble thanes do bravely in the war ; 
The day almost itself professes yours, 
And little is to do. 

Malcolm. We have met with foes 

That strike beside us. 3 

Shvard. Enter, sir, the castle. 

[Exeunt. Alarum. 

Scene YIII. — Another Part of the Eield. 
Enter Macbeth. 

Macbeth. Why should I play the Roman fool, and die 
On mine own sword ? whiles I see lives, 1 the gashes 
Do better upon them. 

Scene VII. — 1 Bruited = noised abroad. 

2 Gently rendered = easily won. 

3 Strike beside us = do not try to hit us ; make a mere pretense of 
fighting. 

Scene VIII.— 1 Lives = living men. 



SCENE VIII.] MACBETH. 89 



Enter Macduff. 

Macduff. Turn, hell-hound, turn ! 

Macbeth. Of all men else I have avoided thee : 
But get thee back ; my soul is too much charg'd 5 

With blood of thine already. 

Macduff. I have no words ; 

My voice is in my sword, thou bloodier villain 
Than terms can give thee out! [They fight. 

Macbeth. Thou losest labour. 

As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air 
With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed: 10 

Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests ; 
I bear a charmed life, which must not yield 
To one of woman born. 

Macduff. Despair thy charm, 

And let the angel whom thou still hast serv'd 
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb 15 

Untimely ripp'd. 

Macbeth. Accursed be that tongue that tells me so, 
For it hath cow'd my better part of man ! 
And be these juggling fiends no more believ'd, 
That palter with us in a double sense ; 20 

That keep the word of promise to our ear, 
And break it to our hope. — I '11 not fight with thee. 

Macduff. Then yield thee, coward, 
And live to be the show and gaze o' the time : 
We '11 have thee, as our rarer monsters are, 25 

Painted upon a pole, and underwrit, 
j Here may you see the tyrant.' 

Macbeth. I will not yield, 

To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, 
And to be baited 2 with the rabble's curse. 

2 Baited = worried, tormented. 



90 MACBETH. [ACT V. 

Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane, 30 

And thou oppos'd, being of no woman born, 

Yet I will try the last. Before my body 

I throw my warlike shield : lay on, Macduff, 

And damn'd be him that first cries ' Hold, enough ! ' 

[Exeunt, fighting. Alarums. 

Retreat. Flourish. Enter, with drum and colours, Malcolm, 
old Siward, Ross, the other Thanes, and Soldiers. 

Malcolm. I would the friends we miss were safe arriv'd. 35 

Siward. Some must go off ; 3 and yet, by these I see, 
So great a day as this is cheaply bought. 

Malcolm. Macduff is missing, and your noble son. 

Moss. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt : 
He only liv'd but till he was a man ; 40 

The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd 
In the unshrinking station where he fought, 
But like a man he died. 4 

Siward. Then he is dead? 

Boss. Ay, and brought off the field : your cause of sorrow 
Must not be measur'd by his worth, for then 45 

It hath no end. 

Siivard. Had he his hurts before ? 

Ross. Ay, on the front. 

Siward. Why then, God's soldier be he ! 

Had I as many sons as I have hairs, 
I would not wish them to a fairer death ; 
And so his knell is knoll'd. 

Malcolm. He 's worth more sorrow, 50 

And that I '11 spend for him. 

Siward. He 's worth no more : 



3 Go off = die. 

4 No sooner had his prowess confirm'd, etc. = no sooner had his prowess 
in this fight proved his manhood, than he died at his post like a man. 



SCENE VI) I.] MACBETH. 91 

They say he parted well and paid his score ; 

And so God be with him ! Here comes newer comfort 

Re-enter Macduff, ivith Macbeth's head. 

Macduff. Hail, king ! for so thon art. Behold, where stands 
The usurper's cursed head ; the time is free. 55 

I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl, 5 
That speak my salutation in their minds ; 
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine : 
Hail, King of Scotland ! 

All. Hail, King of Scotland ! [Flourish. 

Malcolm. We shall not spend a large expense of time 60 
Before we reckon with your several loves, 
And make us even with you. My thanes and kinsmen, 
Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland 
In such an honour nam'd. What 's more to do, 
Which would be planted newly with the time, — 65 

As calling home our exil'd friends abroad 
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny, 
Producing forth 6 the cruel ministers 
Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen, 
Who, as ? t is thought, by self and violent hands 70 

Took off her life, — this, and what needful else 
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace 
We will perform in measure, time, and place : 
So, thanks to all at once and to each one, 
Whom we invite to see us crown' d at Scone. 75 

[Flourish. Exeunt. 

5 Pearl = thy nobles, which are thy greatest treasure. 

6 Producing forth = hunting out. 



Scale of Miles. 




MAP OF SCOTLAND, SHOWING THE SCENE OF THE TRAGEDY 
OF MACBETH. 



STUDIES. 



Provide yourself with a note book, and carefully answer every 
question. Do not answer with monosyllables; give a reason for 
every opinion, and fortify your position if possible by quotations 
from the text. If questions occur to you during your study, note 
them down to be propounded at the first opportunity. Some part 
of every recitation period should be set apart for the discussion of 
the exercises written on the preceding day. 

ACT I. 

Scene I. 

1. The Folios have " or" instead of "and" in line 2. Which 
is better? What difference does it make in the meaning? 

2. How would you accent the line as it now stands ? How, if 
the Folio reading were retained? 

3. What is the weather at each appearance of the witches 
throughout the play ? Why is this so ? 

4. What do you infer as to the time of the battle? 

5. Is there anything in this scene to imply that these creatures 
could read the future ? 

6. Are the witches on the heath now? 

7. Should the audience hear the mewing of graymalkin and 
the call of paddock ? 

8. In line 7 why do they not say Macbeth and Banquo ? 

9. Explain the meaning of line 9. What light does it throw 
upon the character of the speakers? 

10. What does the word "hover " suggest? 

11. With what sort of motion should the witches come upon the 
stage ? 

12. What has been the one thing that has brought the witches 
together ? 

93 



94 MACBETH. [ACT I. 

13. What are we to infer, from the nature of this opening note, 
as to the general character of the whole drama? 

14. What has been accomplished by the scene ? (100 words.) 

Scene II. 

1. How do we know that a battle is in progress? 

2. What is there to show that Malcolm had been in the early 
part of the battle ? 

3. How happens it that he is not with the army now? 

4. In Scotland, during the eleventh century, what was expected 
of a king in time of war? 

5. Who in a kingdom would naturally be most concerned about 
a revolution? 

6. Why is King Duncan not suppressing the revolt in person? 

7. What may be inferred from the fact that the king is in " a 
camp near Forres"? 

8. One noted critic has declared of this scene, that "Shake- 
speare's good sense would hardly have tolerated the absurdity of 
sending a severely wounded soldier to carry the news of the vic- 
tory." Where is it mentioned that he was sent? 

9. Why was the wounded sergeant so far from his army? 

10. Would you call the meeting between him and the king 
accidental? 

11. Is the figure in line 8 true to nature? Explain it. 

12. Is there anything impossible about the stroke that slew 
Macdonwald? Do we know that it was done with a sword? 

13. "What brought forth the exclamation in line 24, — admiration 
for Macbeth or joy at danger removed ? 

14. Point out instances in the sergeant's speech of what might 
be called bombast. 

15. Make a note of the different comparisons used by him dur- 
ing his part. 

16. Would a soldier brought suddenly before his king, and made 
to tell great news, be likely to talk as did the sergeant ? Defend 
your answer. 

17. What is there significant in the fact that this man, severely 
wounded and weak from loss of blood, is so enthusiastic over his 
commander ? 



SCENE III.] STUDIES 95 

18. What characteristic of both battles recalls the heroic age? 

19. What is the attitude of the loyal army of Scotland toward 
Macbeth? 

20. What is meant by "The Norweyan lord, surveying van- 
tage"? 

21. What was the sergeant about to say when stopped by 
f aintness ? 

22. How long after the first battle did the second take place ? 
(I, iii, 94.) 

23. What was the condition of affairs at the front when the 
sergeant left the field? 

24. Who was the real messenger to the king? 

25. At what point in the battle was he sent away with his news ? 

26. What was there probably in his appearance when he en- 
tered to occasion surprise ? 

27. Why did the king not recognize him at first? 

28. Does " him," in line 55, refer to the King of Norway or to 
Cawdor? (What would "rebellious" in the next line imply? 
What would I, iii, 72 and 112 suggest?) 

29. In either case did Macbeth slay his opponent ? Give reasons 
for your answer. 

30. Have we any ground of conjecture in this scene as to the 
age of Duncan or of his sons ? 

31. What traits of character are shown by the king in lines 63-65 ? 

32. Tell briefly the state of affairs in Scotland at the close of 
scene ii. (200 words.) 

33. What estimates would you make of Duncan, Malcolm, and 
Macbeth at this point in the drama ? (200 words.) 

34. Sum up the kingly qualities of Duncan thus far revealed, 
and the unkingly ones. 

35. What contrast between Duncan and Macbeth ? 

Scene III. 

1. Why have these witches come together at this time ? 

2. Why was it necessary to show the audience what they had 
been doing since last they met? 

3. How long since the last meeting? 

A. Judging from this scene alone, how much power nave they ? 



96 MACBETH. [ACT i. 

5. What comment would you make on the terrible anger of the 
first witch ? 

6. How should line 10 be inflected ? 

7. The first folio had "ports" in line 15; Pope changed it to 
"points." Which do you prefer? Give reasons. 

8. For how many days was the sailor docmed to suffer? 

9. What do you infer from line 24 as to the limits of the 
witches' power? 

10. In the light of this, is it probable that the first witch caused 
the pilot's death? 

11. Has she had time to wreck the pilot and to secure his thumb 
as a trophy? 

12. Which is apparently the most active of the three ? Which, 
the least ? 

13. Is there a climax in the deeds mentioned? 

14. If they singly and alone can do such deeds, what may we 
infer as to the deed that requires their concerted action? 

15. Do lines 28, 29 have any covert reference to Macbeth? Ex- 
plain how they might have been intended to be symbolic. 

16. The word " thus " gives what hint to the actors ? How should 
the dance be executed? 

17. May we infer that Macbeth and Banquo were at the head of 
their army? Why? 

18. We have not yet seen Macbeth ; what kind of man do we 
expect to see ? 

19. How does the audience regard him at this point? 

20. What did Macbeth probably mean by the words of line 38? 

21. Has his speech any added significance in the light of I, i, 10? 

22. Do you believe with Professor Dowden that a connection 
has already been made by their spells between the souls of the 
witches and that of Macbeth ? 

23. Whom' does Banquo ask concerning the distance to Forres, 
Macbeth or the witches ? 

24. If Macbeth, what must we infer as to the proximity of the 
witches when Banquo first catches sight of them ? 

25. If the witches, how do you explain his sudden change of 
manner after asking the question ? 

26. What characteristic of the witches first impresses Banquo ? 
W T hat is his first thought as to their nature ? 



SCENE III.] STUDIES. 97 

27. What facts does a closer inspection reveal? What does he 
finally conclude as to their nature? 

28. They lay their fingers on their lips for what reason? 

29. Had they never opened their lips concerning him, how might 
it have affected Banquo's after life? 

30. Is Banquo too much startled and excited to study closely 
the beings before him ? What about Macbeth ? 

31. Why do they not put their fingers to their lips when Mac- 
beth questions them? 

32. What effect is produced on the audience at this point by the 
fact that they know of Macbeth's appointment to the Thaneship, 
while he knows nothing of it? 

33. Why should Macbeth " start and seem to fear "? 

34. Would the prediction itse]f account for it? 

35. What do you infer as to the violence of Macbeth's starting? 

36. If a fortune teller should declare to you that you were 
sometime to occupy the highest position in the land, would you 
be likely to " start and seem to fear " ? 

37. Macbeth was " rapt," yet how do we know that he was much 
impressed by Banquo's behavior toward the witches? (Ill, i, 56.) 

38. Was he too much " rapt " to heed the witches' predictions 
concerning Banquo ? Cite proof. 

39. What was perhaps passing through his mind while he stood 
"rapt"? 

40. " Present grace," " noble having," " royal hope," refer re- 
spectively to what? 

41. Explain the paradoxes in lines 65, 66. 

42. What significance in the change of order in lines 68, 69"? 

43. When does Macbeth arouse himself to question the witches 
further? 

44. Do you detect any note of eagerness in his demands ? If 
so, how do you account for it ? 

45. Do you think that Macbeth was honest when he said "to be 
king stands not within the prospect of belief " ? Tell why. 

46. Contrast the behavior of Macbeth and Banquo after the 
witches vanish. 

47. Do you note with Coleridge any peculiar fitness in the words 
" as breath into the wind " ? In what climate would such a figure 
alone be possible ? 



98 MACBETH. [ACT I. 

48. Note how Macbeth treats Banquo's doubts expressed in lines 
83-85, and how he answers his questions. What explanation? 

49. Hudson, changing "which" to "what," interprets lines 92, 
93 : " His wonders and his praises are so earnest and enthusiastic, 
that they seem to be debating or raising the question, whether 
what is his ought not to be thine, — whether you ought not to be 
in his place." What is there to criticise in this interpretation? 

50. If this be the meaning, what effect would it naturally have 
upon Macbeth? 

51. The original has in line 97 " as thick as tale." How can it 
be defended ? Which do you prefer ? Why ? 

52. Angus says, " We are sent." What mention has been made 
thus far of him? 

53. " And for an earnest of a greater honour." What did it prove 
to be? What might Macbeth suspect it to be? Yet see lines 127— 
142. 

54. Comment on Banquo's sudden ejaculation : "What, can the 
devil speak true ? " 

55. What do we know at this point about the Thane of Cawdor? 

56. Why does Macbeth in line 73 declare the thane to be "a 
prosperous gentleman," and again in line 109 exclaim so emphati- 
cally against "borrowed robes"? What two explanations? 

57. Do the words of Angus make Cawdor out to have been a 
secret enemy or a bold, open rebel ? 

58. If it be answered that Macbeth knew nothing of Cawdor's 
treachery, how would it affect the answer to I, ii, Question 28 ? 

59. Tell to whom each of the speeches in lines 116-120 is 
addressed. 

60. What is meant by " the greatest is behind " ? Why behind? 

61. In what tone of voice were the words " Do you not hope," 
etc. spoken ? How should they be inflected ? 

62. How is Banquo's character shown in his reply? 

63. What indication that he had read Macbeth 's thoughts? 

64. Tell how his words may be taken as the moral of the whole 
tragedy. 

65. " Swelling act " — why ? " Imperial theme " — why? Ex- 
plain the N sentence. 

66. " Soliciting." Why does he use this word ? Where has there 
been any supernatural soliciting ? 



SCENE IV.] STUDIES. 99 

67. Why did Macbeth stop to say, " I thank you, gentlemen " ? 

68. " Why hath it given me earnest of success ? " How had 
Banquo answered the question? What explanation of his total 
disregard of Banquo's advice? 

69. What was the " suggestion " ? 

70. What glimpses does the soliloquy give as to Macbeth 's 
temperament ? 

71. Why "murder" after the prediction of the witches, the 
knowledge that he is in the line of the succession, and the report 
that the king is greatly pleased with him ? 

72. Coleridge says, " Every word of his soliloquy shows the 
early birth-date of his guilt." Tell how. 

73. What was Banquo's explanation of Macbeth's "rapt " state? 
Do you think he was honest in this explanation? Defend your 
answer. 

74. Can you explain lines 149, 150 as being other than a direct 
falsehood ? 

75. What was the necessity of it ? 

76. Are victorious generals usually superstitious? Cite in- 
stances. 

77. What remark would you make concerning the superstition 
of the Scotch ? 

78. Contrast the superstition of Macbeth with that of Banquo. 

79. In scene ii we got an external view of Macbeth. With what 
conclusion ? In this scene we get a view into his soul. With what 
results? Sum up Macbeth's character as it appears now. (200 
words.) 

80. Contrast Macbeth's character with that of Banquo. 

Scene IV. 

1. Who were " those in commission " ? 

2. Mention some of the more prominent traits in the character 
of Cawdor. 

3. "There's no art," etc., lines 11, 12, — is it true? What 
element of Duncan's character does the speech reveal? 

4. What kind of kings trust absolutely ? 

5. How does Duncan unconsciously prove that his estimate of 
himself was a true one? 



100 MACBETH. [act i. 

6. Was Macbeth's face a hard one to read ? Defend your answer. 

7. The exclamation, "O worthiest cousin," after the words just 
spoken by the king, is one of the great art strokes of the play. 
Explain how. 

8. Explain the element of irony here introduced by the fact 
that the audience know Macbeth's real position. 

9. Was the king telling the strict truth in line 21? What did 
he withhold that he might have given? 

10. What comment would you make on Macbeth's reply? 

11. What hints might Macbeth receive from lines 21, 28, 29? 

12. Banquo "that hast no less deserv'd " receives what reward? 

13. Why does Duncan not "infold " Macbeth? 

14. Why are all the honors heaped upon him? 

15. How does Banquo receive the situation ? 

16. Interpret, " Seek to hide themselves in drops of sorrow." 

17. Why does Duncan at this point announce the successor to 
his throne? 

18. Any inference here as to Malcolm's age? 

19. As far as we know, what " kinsmen " were present? 

20. How was the announcement a crisis in Macbeth's life? 

21. Do you think that Duncan invited himself to Macbeth's 
castle, or did he come by other invitation ? 

22. What irony in Macbeth's reply? 

23. The announcement, coming as it does at Macbeth's bitterest 
moment, has what effect upon him? Are we surprised at the 
awful words of his aside? Why? 

24. Why does he make such haste to be gone? 

25. To what does the king attribute this haste? 

26. Lines 54, 55 imply what unreported conversation ? 

27. How do they throw light on the characters of Duncan and 
Banquo ? 

28. Point out the irony in the king's last words. 

29. Find in this scene as many evidences as you can of Dun- 
can's childlike simplicity; of Macbeth's hypocrisy; of Banquo's 
nobility of character. 

30. Compare Macbeth with the first thane of Cawdor. 

31. What has been accomplished by the scene? 

32. Is there anything in this scene to lead one to think that, 
after all, Duncan had some suspicions as to Macbeth's true character ? 



SCENE v.] STUDIES. 101 

Scene V. 

1. How much time has elapsed since the last scene? Study 
carefully. 

2. Is the whole letter given or only a fragment? Give reasons. 

3. Is Lady Macbeth reading it for the first time? 

4. "I have learned," etc. When has there been a time when 
he could make his inquiries ? 

5. What comment is to be made on the fact that he loses no 
time in finding out all possible concerning the witches ? 

6. How many times has Macbeth " stood rapt " ? What trait 
in his character does this reveal? 

7. Does he believe the prophecy of the witches ? 

8. When was the letter written? Had he had his interview 
with the king ? 

9. Upon what point does the letter lay greatest stress ? 

10. What gives the characterization of Macbeth, in lines 13-28, 
a peculiar value ? 

11. Do they voice your impression of Macbeth gained from 
scenes ii, iii, and iv ? Tell all points of difference. 

12. Coleridge declares that in characterizing her husband, Lady 
Macbeth reveals her own character as well. Tell how. 

13. What in her characterization explains why Macbeth fell so 
easy a victim to the witches? 

14. Sum up in your own words the main traits of Macbeth's 
character as revealed by his wife. 

15. At the very moment that these words were being spoken, 
how was Macbeth proving that they were true ? 

16. What comment on the words, " Thou 'rt mad to say it " ? • 

17. How do the two following lines serve to cover her confusion ? 

18. Who is " our thane " ? What is meant by " had the speed 
of him " ? 

19. Were the messengers sent by Macbeth? Why send mes- 
sengers when he was riding as fast as possible himself ? And why 
such extreme haste on the part of the messengers ? Why, on the 
part of Macbeth ? 

20. " Give him tending " — spoken to whom ? Of whom ? 

21. " He brings great news " — who does ? Point out the irony 
in the words. 



102 MACBETH. [ACT I. 

22. How might the word " himself " in line 36 suggest that the 
messenger was hoarse from his great exertion? Why the raven ? 

23. What comment on the fact that Lady Macbeth 's mind is 
made up on the instant? 

24. "Battlements" — why this warlike allusion? Banquo, in 
the next scene, is reminded, when he sees the castle, of a temple. 

25. Does Lady Macbeth's awful prayer reveal a nature utterly 
diabolic, or a feminine nature suspicious as to the limits of its 
powers ? Comment fully. 

26. Why " my keen knife " ? Why not our ? 

27. " Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark." Ex- 
plain fully the figure. 

28. Is the meeting between Lord and Lady Macbeth what 
might be expected between a wife and her husband just home 
from a hard-fought and dangerous campaign ? How do you ex- 
plain it ? 

29. Mrs. Siddons used to pronounce the word " hereafter " with 
most telling effect. How should the five lines be inflected? 

30. " Letters " — what is implied by the plural ? 

31. Why does Macbeth with his very first words tell of Dun- 
can's intended visit? 

32. "And when goes hence?" Is this asked for mere informa- 
tion, or to test Macbeth by watching his face as he answered ; or is 
it given in a tone insinuating that " We'll see that he doesn't go 
at all" ? How would the inflection differ in the three cases? 

33. "To-morrow — as he purposes" — why the break? Some 
have maintained that he caught himself in a lie, and his natural 
honesty checked it automatically (see II, iii, 34) ; others think 
that he was checked by the look on his wife's face ; some that the 
words " as he purposes " were given with a sarcastic smile (see line 
60). What is your opinion ? Defend your answer. 

34. The fact that at this first meeting, after a separation that 
had been fraught with extreme danger, they talk of nothing save 
this one subject, throws what light upon their characters? 

35. At this point, how much of the murder has Lady Macbeth 
determined to do ? What is to be Macbeth's part? 

36. Do you think that she deceived herself as to her strength ? 

37. " We will speak further " implies what in Macbeth ? How 
should it be inflected? 



SCENES VI.-VII.] STUDIES. 103 

38. Sum up Lady Macbeth's character as revealed by this scene. 
(200 words.) 

Scene VI. 

1. What contrast between this scene and the last? 

2. Duncan is charmed by the gentle sweetness of the sur- 
roundings of Macbeth's castle, and Banquo notices that it is cov- 
ered with the marks of peace and beauty. What glimpses of 
character ? 

3. Do you think that Banquo, who knew much of Macbeth's 
state of mind, was honest here, or was he simply humoring the 
king's mood? 

4. Do the audience know into what Duncan is going? Com- 
ment on the irony of this scene. (100 words.) 

5. Pope read " masonry " for " mansionry " in line 5. Your 
opinion. 

6. Why does Macbeth not appear to welcome the king ? 

7. What of Lady Macbeth's greeting? 

8. "By your leave, hostess." What is required of the actor? 

9. What is your estimate now of Duncan ? (200 words.) 

10. Has he grown in your estimation or not ? 

11. Do you find yourself taking a breathless and heart-beating 
interest in his fate ? Why ? 

12. Has the character of Macbeth lost or gained since you first 
heard of him ? 

13. Which had you rather see king, Macbeth or Duncan ? Why? 

Scene VII. 

1. How long between this scene and the preceding? (I, v, 29, 
57; vii, stage directions, 62.) Do you infer that Duncan saw 
Macbeth after scene iv? 

2. Write in your own words, after a careful study, the first 
twelve lines of Macbeth's soliloquy. 

3. How would it affect the sense to place a period, as some 
editors have done, at the end of the first line, and remove the 
punctuation after " quickly " ? 

4. What is the antecedent of " his " in line 4 ? 

5. Tell how these twelve lines throw a flood of light upon our 
study of Macbeth's inner life. 



104 MACBETH. [ACT I. 

G. Do the words, " He 's here in double trust," etc. arise from a 
real struggle with conscience, or is Macbeth deceiving himself, and 
giving this as a flimsy excuse after he has convinced himself that 
he dares not do the deed? Defend your' answer. 

7. Did the fact that Duncan had been a generous and lovable 
king appeal to him as a reason why he should not kill him ? 

8. "1 have no spur," etc. implies as its logical ending "and 
therefore I will not do it." What forces him to this conclusion, — 
fear of results? "Compunctious visitings of nature"? Fear of 
losing what he had already gained? " Milk of human kindness " ? 
Discuss fully. 

9. Do you think that Macbeth was at any time at the banquet? 
How could he be absent without suffering from grave suspicions 
after the murder had been committed? How could he excuse 
himself ? (See line 29.) Yet we see the materials for the banquet 
just before Macbeth enters, and after his soliloquy, which con- 
sumes only a few minutes, the queen declares that Duncan has 
almost supped. Explain. 

10. " Hath he asked for me?" Why this question ? Show how 
it exposes Macbeth's weakness. 

11. How is Lady Macbeth's reply a contrast? 

12. Is Macbeth honest in the excuses of the next five lines? 
What has led him to this conclusion ? 

13. Show how Lady Macbeth sees quite through her husband's 
excuses. 

14. " Dress'd " — why past tense ? 

15. "Was the hope drunk?" Show how peculiarly appropriate 
is this figure. Explain it in connection with the words "slept," 
"wakes," "green and pale." 

16. In the light of V, i, 33, what did she consider to be the most 
stinging part of this speech? How would it be an especial sting- 
to a man of Macbeth's temperament? 

17. Explain why the word " beast," in line 47, is a well-chosen one. 

18. What do you infer from line 48 ? Does it relieve somewhat 
the blackness of Lady Macbeth's character ? How ? 

19. What had been Macbeth's conduct at that former discussion 
of the question ? 

20. Some critics maintain that the scene here alluded to must 
originally have been a part of the play, and that it has been lost. 



SCENE I.] STUDIES. 105 

As this rests on simple conjecture, what is your opinion ? In what 
part of Act I could it have been inserted ? Was it before or after 
the battles ? Is such a scene needed? 

21. " Sworn " — comment on this. 

22. How do you account for the change in Macbeth since this 
early discussion of the murder ? 

23. " If we should fail " — how was Macbeth about to finish this 
sentence when interrupted ? 

24. What note do you detect in the words ? How should they 
be inflected? 

25. "We fail,"— how should this be inflected? "We fail"! 
" We fail ? " " We fail ? " " We fail," or otherwise ? Discuss fully. 

26. How is Lady Macbeth's practical nature shown in the plan 
which she unfolds? 

27. What is to be her part in the execution of this plan ? What 
Macbeth's? 

28. Do you detect any note of bravado in Lady Macbeth's 
words? Is she cool and calculating, or passionate and carried be- 
yond herself by the excitement of the moment? 

29. What change in Macbeth when a practical plan and a chance 
for action are presented to him ? 

30. With what note does the act end ? 

31. Explain how Act I might be entitled, " The Temptation." 

32. Make a careful analysis of the time covered by this act. 

REFERENCES FOR ACT I. 

[The references are, as far as possible, to works easily accessible to the 
students of any school.] 

A map of the section of Scotland covered by the play will be 
found on page 92. Extracts from Holinshed are to be found in 
Furness and in most school editions of Macbeth. 



Scene I. 

Coleridge, 370. Hudson, 15-20. Deighton,77. Morley, quoted 
by Sprague, 45. Dowden, 218; quoted by Rolfe, 39. 
9. Rolfe, 31. 
11. Deighton, 78. 



10G MACBETH. [ACT I., SCENE II. 



Scene II. 

Deighton, xii. Arden, 90. Ransome, 79o 
64. Johnson, quoted by Furness, 20. 

Scene III. 
Arden, 94. 

38-88. Dowden, 222 ; quoted by Rolfe, 40. 

51-88. Coleridge, 371 ; quoted by Rolfe, 160. 

73. Arden, 97. 

123. Flathe, quoted by Rolfe, 165. 
130-142. Bucknill, quoted by Furness, 40 
134. Hunter, quoted by Furness, 39. 
138. Arden, 99. 
142. Hudson, 61. 

Scene IV. 

Ransome, 82-87. Corson, Handbook of Shakespearean. Rolfe, 
26. Sprague, 34. 

14. Clarendon, 89. Hudson, 63. 

27. Coleridge, 374 ; quoted by Rolfe, 167, and Furness, 47. 

Scene V. 

Arden, 101. Ransome, 84-88. Hazlitt, quoted by Sprague, 30. 
4. Knowles, quoted by Rolfe, 168. 

15. Bodenstedt and Ulrici, quoted by Rolfe, 169, Furness, 51. 
21-23. Coleridge, 75; quoted by Furness, 53. 

29-38. Hunter, quoted by Furness, 54. 

30. Clarendon, 93. 

36. Deighton, 98. 

38. Lowell, Literary Essays, iii, 44. 

52. Steevens, quoted by Sprague, 28. 

58. Hudson, 31. 



70. Hudson, 70. 



Scene VI. 



Ransome, 88, 89. Forsyth, quoted by Furness, 61. Reynolds, 
quoted by Furness, 62, and by Rolfe, 172. Horn and Knowles, 
quoted by Rolfe, 173. Lowell, Literary Essays, iii, 45. 
13. Furness, 67. 



SCENE I.] STUDIES. 107 



Scene VII. 

Arden, 105. Ransome, 89-92. 

1, 2. Furness, 441 ; quoted partially by Rolfe, 176. 

28. Clarendon, 99. 

28-82. Hudson, 33-38. 

35. Fletcher, quoted by Rolfe, 26. 

39. Bailey, quoted by Furness, 76. 

46. Johnson, quoted by Furness, 77. 

59. Jameson, 378 ; quoted by Furness^ 80, Rolfe, 179, Arden, 106. 

72. Elwin, quoted by Furness, 82. 



ACT II. 

Scene I. 

1. How much time has probably elapsed since the events of the 
last scene ? 

2. What has taken place during the interval? 

3. What has Macbeth been doing? 

4. Why are Banquo and his son in the court of the castle at 
such a late hour ? 

5. Explain how Banquo's first question is a very natural one. 

6. What signs, at this point, of the tempest alluded to in II, 
iii, 35? 

7. "Take thee that too." What was alluded to? Dagger? 
Belt? Helmet? Armor? Something that impeded his progress 
in the dark? 

8. Why should he give this and his sword over to Fleance? 
Because he felt perfectly secure in the house of his friend? " From 
horror at the particular use his dreams have prompted him to make 
of them " ? To deceive himself with the thought that, notwithstand- 
ing Macbeth's treason, he is himself innocent? On account of the 
I heavy summons " ? Because he was very tired, having worn them 
all the evening ? Could it be explained in the light of the words, 
" There 's husbandry in heaven," etc. ? Discuss fully. 

9. " A heavy summons " — to what? Why did he not wish to 
sleep ? 



108 MACBETH. [ACT II. 

10. What was his attitude at the words " Merciful powers " ? 

11. " Cursed thoughts " — of what ? Were they dreams or simply 
the uncontrollable train of images that coursed through his mind 
while his body was at rest? 

12. Was this a real prayer, or was it simply an exclamation? 

13. What has wrought Banquo to such a pitch? 

14. What has he seen that would tend to arouse his suspicions 
of Macbeth ? 

15. Does he suspect Macbeth, or is he fighting with himself the 
same battle that has been engaging Macbeth? 

16. Explain fully how lines 1-64 might be called an introduction 
to the Act, and might be divided into three parts : 1. Preparation ; 
2. Contrast ; 3. State of Macbeth. What lines would fall under 
each division ? 

17. Why did Banquo suddenly call for his sword? Who 
did he think it was? Whoever it might have been, how could 
there have been danger to Banquo? From what did he appre- 
hend danger? 

18. Comment on the words " Who 's there." 

19. Why did not Banquo have a servant to carry his torch instead 
of making his son do it? 

20. Why was Macbeth in the court at this time ? 

21. Do you infer that he expected to meet Banquo? 

22. " What, sir, not yet at rest " — easy and natural ? An ex- 
clamation that slipped out before he could check himself? Com- 
ment upon it in the light of the lines that follow. 

23. "Unusual pleasure," "measureless content" — what picture 
of the king do these words present? 

24. Do you infer that Banquo gave the ring earlier than he had 
intended? 

25. " Duncan's trust," says one commentator, " doubles the guilt 
of murder." Tell how. 

26. What excuse does Macbeth make for not being present 
during the evening? 

27. What is the antecedent of " which," line 19 ? 

28. " All 's well " — meaning what ? Is Banquo honest ? 

29. Has there been anything in the conversation that would in 
any way make it natural for him. to speak of the weird sisters and 
their prophecy ? 



SCENE I.] STUDIES. 109 

30. Why does Banquo at this point allude to them ? Answer 
carefully. 

31. What light does line 20 throw upon lines 8 and 9? 

32. " I think not of them " — comment. 

33. "We would spend it." Is this the kingly "we "meaning 
" I " used in anticipation, or does it simply mean " you and I " ? 

34. Are Macbeth's words used to ward off suspicion, or are they 
a bid for aid ? 

35. Do you think that Banquo suspects Macbeth's real position 
after hearing lines 25 and 26 ? 

36. Make a study of Banquo's character as revealed by his reply. 

37. " The like to you." Do you detect any sarcasm? 

38. Where do you infer that Banquo and Fleance go ? 

39. Was this an important message, or was it given simply to 
get rid of the servant? Give reasons for your answer. 

40. " Get thee to bed." Did he probably go to bed ? 

41. Where is Macbeth during the soliloquy that follows? 

42. "Is this a dagger?" Which word should receive the em- 
phasis? Explain how the meaning is affected by the emphasis. 

43. In what tone should the words be spoken? Terror? Startled 
inquiry? Animation? Curiosity? Foreboding? 

44. Why was it necessary to introduce into the drama this 
episode of the dagger? 

45. Does Macbeth recognize it as a hallucination, or does he 
believe it to be a real dagger sent to lead him to his work? 

46. What does this fact reveal as to Macbeth's mental condition? 

47. Should the dagger be represented as lying on a table, as one 
commentator has suggested, or fixed in the air, seemingly supported 
by nothing? Should it be visible to the audience ? 

48. Why does the dagger seem to disappear as soon as he notices 
the " gouts of blood " upon it ? What word in the next line ex- 
plains it? 

49. Which is the better reading, "the one-half world" or "the 
one half-world " ? 

50. Where is Lady Macbeth during this soliloquy ? Would the 
servant be likely to "go to bed before seeing her and delivering 
his message " ? 

51. Show how nature reflects the deed that is to be done. 

52. Where was Lady Macbeth when she rang the bell? 



110 MACBETH. [ACT ii. 

53. Show how dangerous it was to ring a bell as the signal for 
the murder. 

54. Show how Macbeth, excited as he was, perceived the awk- 
wardness of the signal. 

55. Why did Lady Macbeth not simply set the hour for the 
deed without adding thereto a signal? 

56. Do you think, with Seymour, that the bell was not rung by 
her, but that it was the clock striking ? (V, i, 31.) 

Scene II. 

1. Many editors make no change of scene at this point, in spite 
of the fact that one is made by the folio. Which do you prefer? 
Give reasons. 

2. Why was it necessary to bring Lady Macbeth upon the stage 
at this point? 

3. Do her opening words mean that she was obliged to nerve 
herself to the deed with wine, or do they mean that the wine, since 
her errand with it had been successful, and since it had made the 
guards drunk and therefore harmless, had given her new courage ? 

4. Explain how the interpretation of this point is a critical 
factor in the estimation of her character. (200 words.) 

5. Why does the voice of the owl startle her? Can the 
audience hear it ? 

6. "The doors are open" — why plural? What doors? Who 
opened them ? Why mention the fact of the " snores " in such close 
connection ? 

7. What do you understand by the stage direction, " Within " ? 

8. Why does Macbeth, while still " within," and loud enough so 
that Lady Macbeth, who is without, can hear, call, " Who 's there? 
what, ho ! " ? 

9. How would the attempt without the deed confound them? 

10. What noise causes Lady Macbeth to say " Hark " ? A peal 
of thunder, as given on the modern stage ? A fancied noise due to 
her overwrought nerves? The dull thud of Macbeth's dagger as it 
falls on the king ? The owl again ? The snores of the guards ? 
Their prayers ? The crickets? Answer carefully. 

11. Comment on the awkwardness of a plan in the execution of 
which she must pass near the chambers of at least two men, and 



SCENE II.] STUDIES. Ill 

enter another chamber where three were presumably asleep, purloin 
the daggers, lay them ready, look into the king's face, and then use, 
as a sort of headquarters for the murder, a part of the castle com- 
mon to all its inhabitants? 

12. " Had he not resembled my father." Tell how this is an- 
other prominent factor in the discussion of her character. 

13. How does this throw light on i, v, 71? 

14. Would it make more impression on the audience if they 
could actually see the deathblow given? Why? 

15. What means does Shakespeare take to make them feel the 
murder ? 

16. " My husband ! " — in what tone should it be uttered ? Show 
how thoroughly feminine is the exclamation. 

17. Describe Macbeth as you imagine he appeared at this mo- 
ment. 

18. Was there any light in the court or were they in total dark- 
ness ? (Y, i, 20 ; yet II, ii, 20.) 

19. In what tone was the following dialogue spoken ? 

20. " Didst thou not hear a noise ? " What had Macbeth really 
heard ? 

21. Why was it so easy for them to hear owls and crickets that 
live in the open air ? 

22. " As I descended " — implies what? 

23. " Hark ! " What did he hear ? What do you infer from the 
question that follows ? 

21. " Second chamber " — where, probably, was Duncan ? Give 
your ideas as to how the chambers were arranged. 

25. Draw a plan of Macbeth's castle. (II, i, stage directions ; ii, 
5, 16, 18,25,66; iii, 116.) 

26. " There 's one did laugh " — why ? Dreams of his night's 
revel ? Drunken foolishness ? Nervous premonitions to which he 
was powerless to respond? 

27. " One cried i Murther ! ' " How might this have been one 
motive for Macbeth's slaughter of the guards in the morning ? 

28. " There are two lodged together." Who are meant? Mal- 
colm and Donalbain ? Yet, II, ii, 19. The guards ? yet why men- 
tion them again in this way? Was it a grim joke, as much as to 
say that they were huddled the one upon the other in drunken 
sprawl like lodged grain ? 



112 MACBETH. [ACT ii. 

29. Would line 26 imply that it was the guards or the king's 
sons ? 

30. Why does Macbeth dwell upon the trivial circumstance of 
his not being able to say amen ? Why could he not? Fear? Con- 
science? The parched throat of the murderer? 

31. " So, it will make us mad." What do you infer from this as 
to the condition of Macbeth at this moment? 

32. How do you explain the voice that Macbeth thought he 
heard ? 

33. Editors have differed as to how much the voice said, some 
contending that it was only the seven words after " cry," and others 
that it was that included in lines 35-40. Your opinion. 

34. How would you interpret lines 35, 30? As if punctuated 
"Sleep no more. Macbeth, does murder sleep?" or by making 
"Macbeth" the subject of "does "? Discuss fully. 

35. Why did the voice dwell upon his titles ? 

3G. What change in Lady Macbeth since her entrance before 
the murder? What has caused it? 

37. Point out the practical common sense of her suggestions. 

38. "This filthy witness," "these daggers" — what action on 
her part is hinted at ? 

39. The fact that she now for the first time discovers the dag- 
gers implies what? 

40. Has Macbeth ever confessed fear before? What does he 
now fear, and why is he afraid? 

41. We know that the guards were partially aroused by the 
murder, and that Donalbain was sleeping in the second chamber, 
and that a noise had been heard in that direction since Macbeth 
had descended. What characteristic of Lady Macbeth is revealed 
by her being willing to go back alone into the chamber of death 
with the bloody daggers, and smear the faces of the grooms with 
blood? 

42. Why " the faces of the grooms " ? 

43. Coleridge remarks that the tragedy contains not a single 
pun, — what of the play on words in lines 56, 57? Was it intended 
or accidental? 

44. What effect has the sudden knocking at the gate upon the 
audience? What upon Macbeth? How do you account for this 
effect ? 



SCENE III.] STUDIES. 113 

45. May the word " whence " have a peculiar significance here ? 
With what might Macbeth have associated the knocking? 

46. Why does he look at once to his hands? 

47. Comment on the fact that he lingers and soliloquizes rather 
than acts. 

48. How should line 63 be read? 

40. " A heart so white " — typical of what ? Where has Lady 
Macbeth used this same argument before to arouse Macbeth ? 

50. Did she hear the first knocking? 

51. Did she have any difficulty in accounting for the knocking, 
and locating it? Contrast her behavior with that of Macbeth. 

52. Comment upon her cool common sense after hearing the 
knocking. 

53. Show how the knocking comes at shorter and shorter inter- 
vals, and comment on the fact. 

54. "Be not lost so poorly in your thoughts." What glimpse 
does this show us of Macbeth ? 

55. What is the matter with him, — fear? conscience? remorse? 
undefined terror? 

56. Point out how the murder was very clumsily planned. The 
stupor of the guards would be interpreted in what way? Would 
the fact that they were dead drunk shield them, or lay them more 
open to suspicion? Who would naturally be king even though 
Duncan were murdered? See also II, i, Question 51, and ii, Ques- 
tions 11 and 41. (200 words.) 

57. Show how fortune has thus far favored Macbeth. 

Scene III. 

1. How do you account for this silly babble by the drunken 
porter after the intense scene preceding ? 

2. Many critics would cut it out as added, by another hand 
than Shakespeare's, to please the multitude. Would you? Why? 

3. What words in the soliloquy are intensely Shakespearean ? 

4. Do you infer that a porter was generally kept at the gate 
all night, or that it was the porter's duty to arise in the early 
morning, when those within the castle might be expected to be 
stirring? 

5. How do you account for the late carousal of the servants? 
(IT, 14.) 



114 MACBETH. [ACT II. 

6. "Remember the porter," — explain what he meant. 

7. What may we infer as to the time of night when the murder 
was committed? (V, i, 31.) Has there been any pause in the action 
since the opening of the act? If so, where? Yet it was somewhat 
after midnight when Banquo retired, and now it is early morning. 
(II, iii, 27, 28.) (In a line omitted with others for obvious reasons 
from most editions, Macduff says, " I believe drink gave thee the 
lie last night," as if it were now morning.) Explain. 

8. What change in Macbeth during the few moments since 
last we saw him? What has caused it? 

9. . "I '11 bring you to him " — what action required? 

10. Why does Macbeth check himself after the words " He does " ? 

11. Show how the storm must have been a sudden mountain 
tempest. 

12. Judging from the play thus far, to what use does Shake- 
speare put external nature? Quote examples. 

13. " Where we lay." Was it in the castle? Why? 

14. Show how Lennox was a typical superstitious Scotchman. 

15. " New hatch'd to the woeful time," — and yet he knows of no 
particular evil deed as yet. Explain. 

16. Macbeth, after the announcement of the murder, immediately 
rushes to the chamber. How do you reconcile this action with his 
words in II, ii, 50-52? 

17. How would a woman aroused at dead of night by the alarum 
bell and the awful cry of murder be expected to act? Does Lady 
Macbeth fulfill the requirements? 

18. "What, in our house?" Comment on this. 

19. How is Banquo's answer a rebuke? 

20. In the light of II, ii, 73, 74, are Macbeth's words, " Had I but 
died," etc., honest, or are they the words of a consummate actor? 
(He had already killed the grooms.) 

21. Study carefully his words from the time he enters after the 
murder to the end of the scene. What percentage of the lines 
contain figurative language? Are figures of speech natural under 
such circumstances? 

22. Compare Macbeth's announcement of the murder, lines 78- 
80, with Macduff's following. 

23. " O, by whom " ? Is this the exclamation you would expect 
from Malcolm? Do you detect in it any traces of personal fear? 



SCENE III.] STUDIES. 115 

24. Do you think that Lennox honestly believed that the 
grooms were the murderer's? Do you consider "as it seem'd" 
ironical? 

25. " O, yet I do repent," etc. Who at this moment knew that 
he had killed the guards? Comment on the tact of Macbeth in 
lines 87, 88. 

26. Why did he kill the grooms? 

27. Did Macduff's question arise from surprise, suspicion, or 
curiosity ? 

28. Comment on the " elaborate, refined, and cold-blooded 
hypocrisy " of Macbeth in lines 89-100. 

29. Was Lady Macbeth's cry, " Help me hence, ho ! " a real appeal 
for help, or did she use it as a pretext for getting out of the room? 

30. Was her swoon real or feigned, or was it no swoon at all? 
(200 words.) 

31. How did Macbeth evidently regard it? 

32. Contrast the conduct of Macbeth in this scene with his con- 
duct in the scene preceding. 

33. "And when we have," etc. — a completion of what thought? 

34. Had they met to question the "bloody piece of work," and 
had each told all that he knew of the deed, what evidence might 
have been collected against Macbeth ? 

35. Do lines 113, 114 imply that Banquo's suspicions are aroused? 
Explain. 

36. Why does Malcolm, who is now legally king, flee in haste to 
England? 

37. What estimate have you previously made of his character? 

38. How was the flight of the two princes an extremely fortunate 
thing for Macbeth? 

39. What other instances show that fortune was on the side of 
Macbeth? 

40. Point out four instances in the play that show that Macbeth 
acted on the impulse of the moment or not at all. 

41. Study carefully all the words spoken by Lennox during the 
scene. What of his age? What is there in the scene to give us 
glimpses of his character? 

42. Comment on Macduff's behavior. 

43. At what point in the act was the nervous tension on Lady 
Macbeth the greatest? 



116 MACBETH. [ACT II., SCENE IV. 



Scene IV. 

1. How much time between this scene and the preceding? 
(Lines 3 and 6.) 

2. Why is the old man introduced into the play? Does he tell 
anything that Ross does not know? 

3. What do you infer from the fact that Ross was not one of 
the circle that gathered in the castle at the ringing of the alarum 
bell? 

4. How may lines 5 and 6 be taken as the key to Shakespeare's 
treatment of external nature? (200 words.) 

5. Is the unnatural darkness caused by the storm or by an 
eclipse of the sun? 

6. How may the prodigy of the falcon and the owl be inter- 
preted? How, the prodigy of the horses eating one another? 

7. " The good Macduff." Comment. 

8. How do you account for his ambiguous and evasive answer? 

9. From the tone of Ross's words, do you think he has sus- 
picions of Macbeth? 

10. "Most like " — why? 

11. Why was Ross, who evidently under Duncan held a high 
position (I, ii, 64, 65), not present when Macbeth was named? 

12. " Nam'd " — by whom ? 

13. How, in the light of your answer to Question 1, could Mac- 
beth be already named and on his way to Scone, and Duncan's 
body be already carried to Colmekill? 

14. Why would Macduff not go to the coronation? 

15. What do you infer from the fact that Ross concluded to go? 

16. Make a study of Ross from the glimpses we have had of 
him thus far. (I, ii, 48 ; iii, 89; iv, 14; II, iv, 1, etc.) 

17. What. has been accomplished by the scene? 



REFERENCES FOR ACT II. 

Scene I. 

Coleridge, 76. Flathe, quoted by Sprague, 37, and Rolfe, 182. 
Capell, quoted by Furness, 84. 
5. Sprague, 90. 



ACT III., SCENE I.] STUDIES. 117 

9. Steevens, quoted by Furness, 85. Hudson, 78. 
24. Knowles and Roffe, quoted by Rolfe, 184, 185. 
33. Deighton, xxxiv. Seymour, quoted by Furness, 89. 

Scene II. 

Coleridge, 77. Ransome, 94. White, quoted by Furness, 96. 
Deighton, 110. Rolfe, 188. 
1. Sprague, 96. 

8. Knight, quoted by Furness, 97. 
13. Hudson, 37. Warburton, quoted by Furness, 98. 
16. Hunter, quoted by Furness, 99. 
18. Clarke, quoted by Furness, 100. 
36. Hudson, 30. Hunter, quoted by Furness, 102. 

56. Rolfe, 192. 

57. De Quincey, " On the knocking at the Gate in Macbeth," 
quoted by Furness, 437; abstract given by Rolfe, 192. 

74. Rowe, quoted by Furness, 109. 

Scene III. 

Hales, Essays and Notes on Shakespeare, 1892 ed., 23, 273 ; admir- 
ably summed up by Deighton, xviii. Rolfe, 195. 

20. Ransome, 95. 

21. Malone, quoted by Furness, 114. 
35. Hudson, 31, 88. 

100. Rolfe, 29, 200. 

107. Sprague, 108. Hudson, 92. 

Scene IV. 



ACT III. 

Scene I. 



1 . Is there anything to indicate the interval of time between 
this act and the last? (in, i, 29, 30.) 

2. The opening soliloquy leaves no doubt about Banquo's 
opinion of Macbeth, — what was it? 



118 MACBETH. [ACT III. 

3. In reading lines 6-10 what words should be emphasized? 

4. Does the soliloquy reveal any weak places in Banquo's nature ? 

5. Would you call these the " cursed thoughts " of II, i, 8? 

6. Show as fully as you can that Banquo was impressed by the 
prophecy of the witches almost as much as was Macbeth. 

7. Why " Hush ! no more " ? Same reason as in II, i, 8 ? Be- 
cause the words were treasonable, and should not enter even his 
thoughts? Because he hears Macbeth approaching? Discuss fully. 

8. Why, in all probability, was Banquo at the palace? Was he 
there to attend the " solemn supper " ? To lend his voice to the 
council ? To pay his respects to the new king ? 

9. Do you tremble for his safety as you did for Duncan's when 
he entered the castle ? 

10. "A solemn supper " was a supper given to solemnize a par- 
ticular occasion, — in this case what ? 

11. Does it seem to you that the invitation to Banquo was a 
sort of afterthought on the part of the king and queen ? 

12. In the light of Banquo's opening soliloquy, comment upon 
his vow to Macbeth of unalterable fealty, lines 16, 17. 

13. "Ride you this afternoon ? " — why asked? What other 
questions asked later for the same reason ? 

14. Did Banquo keep his promise? 

15. Point out the cold-blooded hypocrisy of Macbeth's words in 
lines 29-32. What thoughts are perhaps in Banquo's mind? 

16. What was Macbeth's excuse for wishing to be alone for the 
rest of the afternoon ? What in reality did he intend to do ? 

17. As revealed by Macbeth in his soliloquy, what sort of man 
is Banquo ? Does your estimate of him agree with Macbeth's? 

18. Do you agree with him that he had a "wisdom that guided 
him to act in safety " ? 

19. What is Macbeth's cl^ef objection to Banquo, — envy? Fear 
of him as a possible rival ? Mistrust since he knew of the witches' 
prediction ? The witches' words concerning his being father of 
many kings ? Jealousy ? 

20. If we interpret "he," in IV, iii, 216, to mean Macbeth, then 
he had no son to take the throne after him. What is implied in 
lines 60-70 ? 

21. Why is he so stirred at the thought of his successor if he has 



SCENE II.] STUDIES. 119 

22. What had Macbeth said to the murderers on the day 
before ? 

23. In the light of this, comment on Macbeth's gracious words 
to Ban quo on the day before. 

24. How do you account for the words " Well then, now," line 
74? Embarrassment? Hesitation in view of the fact that he has 
a very delicate task to perform ? Collecting his thoughts ? 

25. Do you think that there was any foundation of truth in 
Macbeth's charges against Banquo? Might the men have been 
justly punished for some crime or offence? Might they not have 
been victims of Macbeth's cruelty, made to believe that Banquo 
was the cause of their troubles? What is your opinion? 

26. Point out how Macbeth uses the same argument to incite 
them to murder that Lady Macbeth had previously used to him. 

27. Do you think that the men were professional murderers, 
men ruined by Banquo's influence, and therefore desperate? or 
adventurers ready for anything that promised reward ? 

28. The fact that Macbeth was obliged to use a skillfully devised 
argument to win them, proves what ? 

29. Why "was" in line 114? 

30. Note carefully the words spoken by each of the murderers, 
and from them note the differences in their natures. 

31. Explain how the words " so is he mine," etc. are the climax 
of Macbeth's argument, — a sort of finesse. 

32. Fletcher calls Macbeth a " Cold-blooded, cowardly, and 
treacherous assassin." Show how each of these adjectives applies. 

33. Who is the most active agent in the murder? 

34. What need of slaying Fleance ? 

35. " I '11 come to you anon," — for what purpose ? 

36. Comment on Macbeth's appeal to the murderers, noting 
what he first appeals to and the successive steps. Why take two 
successive days for the appeal ? 

Scene II. 

■4 

1. Were the servant's words, line 2, any news to Lady Macbeth ? 

2. What do you infer from her opening words as to the subject 
about which she wishes to consult the king ? 

3. Would you give, as some critics have done, lines 4-7 to 



120 MACBETH. [ACT hi. 

Macbeth? Why should any one be led to think that they belonged 
to him rather than to her ? 

4. How do these words modify your previous estimate of Lady 
Macbeth ? 

5. How should the words " Nought 's had, all 's spent," be 
spoken ? 

6. Note the instant change in Lady Macbeth upon the appear- 
ance of the king. How do you account for it? 

7. Has he kept alone? Has she ? 

8. Is she judging him by herself, or does she know of what she 
speaks ? 

9. "What 's done is done." Note other instances of her fatal- 
istic view of life. Has Macbeth shown any tendency toward 
fatalism? Cite quotations. 

10. Do his opening words show that she has read him- aright 
and has administered the proper advice ? 

11 . " Both the worlds " — explain . 

12. " Ere we will eat our meal in fear." Show how this word 
" fear " is one of the keynotes of the play. Point out as many 
instances as you can where Macbeth has been troubled by fear. 

13. What kind of fear was it ? 

14. "These terrible dreams that shake us nightly." Do you 
agree with Hudson, who says, " It is of her state of mind, not of 
his own, that Macbeth is here thinking," and with Dowden, who 
declares that she is supported only by her will, which is powerless 
during sleep? 

15. Some actresses impersonating Lady Macbeth give a con- 
vulsive shudder when Macbeth pronounces the words "terrible 
dreams." Rightly? 

16. Knowing Macbeth's temperament as you do, would you 
expect him to be troubled with dreams? (II, ii, 43.) 

17. From what source would his dreams, if he had them, be • 
likely to come, — remorse for his deed? memory of the horror of 
it? fear of detection? Discuss fully. 

*18. To whom does "better be with the dead" apply, — to her; 
to him only ; to both ? 

19. Some editors have " place " instead of " peace " in line 20, — 
your opinion. 

20. What prompted Macbeth to the lines beginning, " Duncan 



SCENE II.] STUDIES. 121 

is in his grave " ? Remorse ? Self-deception? Dejection ? A wish 
to test Lady Macbeth ? 

21. Does it mean, " I had rather be dead and at peace, as Dun- 
can is, than to be tortured as I am now " ? Is he talking " wild 
wiiiing words " which he does not mean, or is he calm and sincere ? 
Do you detect any hint at suicide ? 

22. " Gentle my lord " — point out other cases, if possible, where 
she has applied soothing or endearing words to her husband. 

23. What do you infer from her words and tone as to his mental 
condition at the time? 

24. "Be -bright and jovial," etc., — was this why she had called 
her husband to her? Had she perhaps some past experience in 
her mind? 

25. He charges her to be especially attentive to Banquo during 
the banquet, yet he has not the least idea that Banquo will be 
present. Why then this strict charge? 

26. " Unsafe " — why ? Explain the rest of the passage. 

27. " You must leave this " — what ? 

28. What were the " scorpions " in his mind ? Whisperings of 
conscience ? Remorse ? Fear of Banquo ? Jealousy ? Envy ? 

29. How do you reconcile the words of lines 30, 31 with those 
following, where he declares that he is in torture because Banquo 
lives ? 

30. Do you think that Lady Macbeth before this had had suspi- 
cions that Banquo was a scorpion in the mind of her husband? 

31. What do you infer from the fact that he made no attempt 
to bring charges against Banquo, or to explain to her the reasons 
of his aversion? 

32. Comment on the complete change that comes over Macbeth 
after he hears the words of his wife, line 38. How do you account 
for it ? 

33. "A deed of dreadful note." Does Lady Macbeth suspect 
what it is to be ? Answer carefully. 

34. Why does he not tell her of his designs ? 

35. Comment on the change in Macbeth since the murder of 
Duncan. 

36. What forces are now impelling him? Ambition? Fear? 
Jealousy ? Lady Macbeth ? A mania for slaughter ? Superstition ? 

37. What forces impelled him to commit the first murder? 



122 MACBETH. [act III. 

38. Make a list of the terms of endearment thus far used by 
Macbeth to his wife. Compare with your answer to Question 22. 
Comment. 

39. Why the prayer " Come, seeling night " ? Did it spring 
from the same impulse as did Lady Macbeth's in I, v, 38-52? 

40. What was the "bond " that kept him pale ? If Banquo, why 
did he pray for heaven to destroy him, when lie had taken every 
precaution to do it himself? 

41. Some editors change "pale" to "paled" (shut up as with 
palings). Your opinion ? 

42. " Light thickens," etc. How are the following three lines 
a sort of text for the whole play? 

43. Comment on the treatment of nature here. 

44. " Thou inarvelPst at my words." What action is implied on 
the part of Lady Macbeth ? 

45. " Hold thee still." Contrast this with her command to him 
before the first murder. 

46. How do you account for the fact that they have changed 
positions since that time ? 

47. Comment on the Machiavellian motto that is urging Mac- 
beth to action. 

48. "Go with me" — where? The word "so" would imply 
what ? 

Scene IH. 

1. Why does the first line begin with " But " ? 

2. Study carefully the words of the third murderer in this 
scene. Whom do you suspect him to be ? 

3. At what hour was the supper to be? When did Macbeth 
appear, and when did the supper begin? (Ill, iv, 127.) What 
detained him? 

4. What may be inferred from the fact that the murderer 
appeared at the door a moment after Macbeth ? 

5. Collect all the evidence you can to defend your answer to 
Question 2. 

6. What would seem to disprove your theory ? (Ill, iv, 21.) 

7. "The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day." Show 
how this description of external nature is in perfect accord with 
the plot of the drama up to this point. 






SCENE IV.] STUDIES, 123 

8. [" Within "] — meaning what ? 

9. To whom does Ban quo shout? 

10. Why did Shakespeare use the device of sending the horses 
" about, almost a mile " ? 

11. Draw a plan, as complete as possible, of the grounds about 
Macbeth's palace, indicating the approaches and the place of 
assassination. 

12. "A light, a light " — spoken for Ban quo to hear, or whispered ? 

13. Why did Banquo call for a light when Fleance was bear- 
ing a torch ? 

14. " Stand to 't " — meaning what ? 

15. Did the murderers have a light? 

16. Do you think the first murderer blundered, or was the 
original plan faulty ? 

17. Why was Banquo murdered before the eyes of the audi- 
ence ? How does the horror of the deed compare with the murder 
of Duncan ? 

18. Why should the second murderer, who had been induced by 
Macbeth to murder Banquo for revenge, consider Fleance the 
" best half of our affair " ? 

19. Note carefully the words of the two murderers during this 
scene, and see if they have been true to your estimate of them in 
III, i, Question 30. 

20. Tell how this scene may be called the climax of the drama, 
all before being cause, and all after being effect. 

21. Has Macbeth had any failure before the escape of Fleance ? 
What success has he after this point? 

Scene IV. 

1. How much time between the scenes ? 

2. Do you infer that Banquo, even had he not been interfered 
with, would have arrived at the banquet much earlier than the 
time when his ghost was first seen ? Explain fully. 

3. Why did Macbeth omit the usual ceremonies of seating his 
guests ? Do you detect any rudeness in his words ? 

4. Why does Lady Macbeth have to be rallied by her husband 
before performing her part in the welcome ? See in* this connec- 



124 MACBETH. [ACT III. 

5. Does any one but Macbeth see the murderer ? 

6. Why does Macbeth see him so quickly? 

7. Comment on the fact that he looks in at the door with his 
face covered with blood. Has some one blundered? Account for 
Macbeth's first words with him. How should they be accented? 

8. How do you interpret line 14, — " 'T is better on your outside 
than in his body," or " 'T is better on thy face than he (Banquo) 
within the room " ? 

9. "Whole as the marble." Explain the figure. 

10. How might line 24 be quoted to defend the reading " paled " 
in III, ii, 50 ? 

11. "But Banquo 's safe?" — asked as a question or with the 
falling inflection ? 

12. What will they probably talk about when they meet to- 
morrow ? 

13. Why does Lady Macbeth chide Macbeth? — afraid he will 
be suspected of something if he stays too long at the door ? Has 
the wait become awkward? Because she is, after all, a careful 
hostess? Because her husband's face "is as a book," and she can 
read there that it is time for her to take matters in hand? 

14. Make a diagram of the banquet hall, indicating the place of 
the door, the places of Lord and Lady Macbeth and the lords at 
the table, and the position of Macbeth while addressing the ghost. 

15. Should the ghost be seen by the andience? (300 words.) 

16. Was it visible to the lords? To Lady Macbeth? Compare 
with the ghost in Hamlet. 

17. Some have maintained that one of the ghosts was Duncan's, 
— lines 71, 72; yet line 81, — which one? Comment. 

18. What action on the part of Macbeth after Lennox speaks 
the words, " Here, my good lord " ? 

19. What was the first explanation that flashed itself into his 
mind after catching sight of the ghost ? 

20. "Thou canst not say I did it " — which word should receive 
the emphasis, " say " or " I "? 

21. Why did the ghost shake its head after Macbeth uttered the 
words ? 

22. Do you think that Lady Macbeth was for a moment at a 
loss to know what to say, until the words of Ross suggested an 
explanation, or do you think that the king and queen had 



SCENE IV.] STUDIES. 125 

agreed upon this explanation beforehand, to be used in such an 
emergency? 

23. Is it possible that she might have been telling the truth? 

24. Comment, in the light of line 36, on the words "feed and 
regard him not." 

25. "Are you a man?" — whispered? Do the others hear? 
Does she keep her seat? 

26. Show how in this crisis she makes use of her old argument. 

27. Do the lords hear his answering words? 

28. " Why ? what care I?" — said to whom ? Meaning what ? 

29. Who nods? Why? 

30. Can you give any reason why the ghost should vanish at 
this particular moment ? 

31. How much of the following dialogue should be heard by the 
lords ? 

32. Tell how lines 75-78 should be read? How would you read 
if a semicolon were placed after " now " in the first line, and a comma 
after " weal " in the next ? Which do you prefer ? 

33. " This is more strange than such a murther is " — what did 
he mean ? Why should the murder seem strange to him ? 

34. "I have a strange infirmity." Do you think that in his 
paroxysms of horror Macbeth heard his wife's excuse, lines 53, 54, 
or does this point to a previous understanding, or to the fact that 
both told the truth ? See Question 22. 

35. " Would he were here " — comment. 

36. "Avaunt! and quit my sight!" Picture the effect of this 
explosive sentence in the dead silence preceding the drinking of 
the toast, the lords on their feet with glasses at the lip. 

37. Show how Lady Macbeth is at her wits' end, but making a 
tremendous effort to save the day. 

38. Which of Macbeth's two paroxysms was most violent ? 

39 . Why does she not again appeal to his manhood ? 

40. "Sit still" — what do you infer from this and the lines 
following? 

41. "You can behold such sights" — to whom does the word 
" you " refer, the lords or Lady Macbeth ? What is implied in the 
question of Ross ? 

42. Why does Lady Macbeth at this point instantly dismiss the 
company, or, rather, impel them out of doors ? 



126 MACBETH. [ACT III. 

43. " Better health attend his majesty " — sarcasm ? 

44. To what do the lords doubtless attribute Macbeth's strange 
actions and words? What will they think next morning when 
Banquo's mangled body is found in the ditch? 

45. " It will have blood " — what will ? 

46. Some editors remove the semicolon after " say." Comment. 

47. How do you account for the fact that after this terrible dis- 
play of weakness on her husband's part, a display that may per- 
haps be fatal to their safety, Lady Macbeth has not one word of 
reproach when they are alone ? 

48. "At our great bidding" — the coronation or the "solemn 
supper " ? 

49. Comment on the fact that even after he has so completely 
exposed himself before his court, and has seen the ghost of the 
murdered Banquo, almost the first words Macbeth utters after the 
lords withdraw are those expressing suspicion and rage at Macduff, 
who has not heeded the royal invitation. 

50. How, then, do you account for III, iii, 9-11? 

51. Comment on the fact that Macbeth kept a paid spy in the 
house of each of his nobles. 

52. What would this fact seem to indicate as to the length of 
time that he had been king? 

53. Explain the apparent collapse of Lady Macbeth after the 
departure of the lords. 

54. Why should Macbeth wish to consult again the weird sisters? 
Why to-morrow and "betimes"? 

Scene V. 

1. What reason for introducing this new character, Hecate? 

2. Many critics think the scene an addition by another hand 
than Shakespeare's. What is there in the scene to lead one to 
distrust it ? 

3. How does it help matters to explain that the ruin of Mac- 
beth has been brought about by the three sisters acting without 
authority of the higher powers of evil ? 

4. " Loves for his own ends, not for you." Would this imply 
that the witches had supposed that Macbeth was fond of them? 
Is it implied that Hecate is here opening their eyes to the real 






SCENE VI.] STUDIES. 127 

truth of the matter, that they had been wooing him to evil with- 
out authority, on the supposition that he was a favorite son? 
Comment fully on the logic of Hecate's whole speech. 

5. "He shall spurn fate," — show how he afterwards does each 
of the things mentioned. 

6. Tell how security (over-confidence) became Macbeth's chief- 
est enemy. 

7. What has been added to the play by this scene? 

Scene VI. 

1. How much time between scenes? 

2. Have there been any indications before this that Macbeth's 
conduct has excited the suspicion of the nobles? 

3. "My former speeches" — when spoken? Before or after 
the banquet? 

4. Point out the irony that pervades the whole speech of 
Lennox. 

5. Where have we before suspected him of cleverly concealed 
irony? 

6. Point out the similarity between the conduct of Fleance 
and that of Malcolm, and also the similarity of results. 

7. " In pious rage the two delinquents tear " — what significance 
in the light of the fact that Lennox was the only eyewitness of 
the deed? 

8. " The slaves of drink and thralls of sleep " — note the sar- 
casm. Would this be proof positive of their guilt? 

9. " And wisely too " — any sarcasm? How was it wise ? 

10. " To hear the men deny 't." Do you infer that the grooms 
realized what had been done, and began to deny having done the 
deed before Macbeth fell upon them ? 

11. " As, an 't please heaven, he shall not " — spoken aside? 

12. "But peace" — why does he check himself? Has he said 
anything which, if literally interpreted, might be regarded as trea- 
sonable? Are his " broad words "? 

13. Show how the other lord, whom some have supposed to be 
Angus or Ross, is not so careful. 

14. What allusions in lines 34-36? 

15. "Under a hand accursed!" Do you think that Lennox at 



128 MACBETH. [ACT III., SCENE I. 

first sounds his companion, and having learned his real sentiments, 
he now expresses himself openly ; or was it natural for him to be 
sarcastic ? 

16. How long has Macbeth now been king? 

17. "What has been accomplished by the Act? 

18. How much time has been covered by the Act? (Ill, iv, 130, 
132; VI, 40.) 



REFERENCES FOR ACT III. 

Scene I. 

Ransome, 98-101. 

18. Flathe, quoted by Rolfe, 206. 

Scene II. 

Coleridge, 77. Arden, 117. Ransome, 101. 
3-7. Furness, 150. Rolfe, 210. 
38. Fletcher, quoted by Rolfe, 29 ; Furness, 433. 
45. Hiecke, quoted by Rolfe, 212. 

51. Mrs. Kemble, quoted by Furness, 159. 

52. Dowden, 217. 

Scene HI. 

Paton, quoted by Furness, 160. Coleridge, 77. Ransome, 102. 
11. Horn, quoted by Furness, 161. 

Scene IV. 

Arden, 119. Ransome, 103. 

14. Hunter, quoted by Furness, 164. 

40. Furness, 167-172, 438-441. Rolfe, 216-218. Hudson, 42-43. 

Scene V. 
Arden, 124. 

Scene VI. 
Ransome, 106-108. 



ACT IV., SCENE I.] STUDIES. 129 



ACT IV. 

Scene I. 

1. Do the witches in this scene have each the familiar, or 
attendant, mentioned in Act I? 

2. Make a study of the three witches, as revealed in this scene 
and in Act I, and determine if they have any persistent personality. 
Who threw the most dreadful things into the cauldron? Who 
the least? Compare with I, iii, Question 12. 

3. Of all the ingredients thrown into the cauldron, which was 
the most horrible? 

4. The word " cold " in line 6 must be pronounced as a dissyl- 
lable. Intentional? What effect does it have? 

5. What difference in the character and behavior of the witches 
when Macbeth is present and when he is absent? Compare Act I. 

6. Comment on Macbeth's attitude toward the witches as re- 
vealed by his opening words to them. 

7. Did his harsh salutation come from fear, detestation, con- 
tempt, anger, or bravado? 

8. " These witches," says Gervinus, " have no power over the 
human will." How can this be shown? 

9. Do they deal with the past, the present, or the future ? 

10. Any difference between these witches and those of Act I? 

11. "Untie the winds" — what added significance in the light 
of I, iii, 11-17? 

12. Of what night was Macbeth probably thinking? Did he 
perhaps attribute the weather of that night to the witches? Did 
Shakespeare intend that we should? 

13. The armed head Was typical of what? What, the bloody 
child and the child with the tree in his hand? 

14. What determination was evidently born in Macbeth's mind 
after hearing the words of the first apparition? 

15. Comment on the word "fear " three times used by Macbeth 
within twelve lines. 

16. " In spite of thunder " — any significance in this allusion to 
thunder? 

17. Why does he ask with such eagerness if Banquo's issue shall 
reign, since he had heard them prophesy concerning it once before ? 



130 MACBETH. [ACT IV. 

18. Where did this scene take place? Do you think that Mac- 
beth had to go far to meet the witches? (Ill, v, 15; iv, 132, 133; 
iv, i, 110, 156.) 

19. Do you infer that Lennox is hunting for Macbeth to deliver 
the message of the horsemen? If so, why does he ask, "What's 
vour grace's will?" instead of delivering his message? 

20. Does the cavern vanish with the witches ? Does Lennox see 
it? 

21. Why does Macbeth inquire so eagerly concerning the weird 
sisters ? 

22. Why does he curse " all those that trust them "? Would he 
be included ? 

23. Comment on the fact that Macduff no sooner leaves his 
home than two or three messengers at race-horse speed go to 
inform Macbeth. 

21. " Fled to England " — what accent ? What glimpse of Mac- 
beth do these three words give? 

'Ki u \v mv onrwl lnrrl " 'Whv flip nrlippfivp *? 



_'.) 



\\. my good lord." Why the adjective ? What thoughts 
are doubtless in the mind of Lennox? 

26. Do you think that Macbeth has been troubled with "flighty 
purposes" thus far? If so, cite examples. 

27. What glimpse of Macbeth do the last thirteen lines of the 
play reveal ? 

28. Would he have committed the deed had he waited for his 
anger to cool? What of kings who order massacres of helpless 
women and children in a moment of ungovernable rage ? 

29. "No more sights" — explain. (IV, i, 122.) Some editors 
read " flights " — referring to what ? Your opinion. 

Scene II. 

1. How long between scenes? (IV, i, 149.) 

2. How happens it that Ross is at Macduff's castle ? 

3. Have you any reason to think that he was already a fugi- 
tive? 

4. Why had Macduff left his wife and children in the power of 
the tyrant ? 

5. For what, after all, is Lady Macduff most concerned ? 

6. Criticise the ornithological allusions in lines 9-11. 






SCENE II.] STUDIES. 131 

7. " He is noble, wise, judicious." Is this your estimate of Mac- 
duff from what you have thus far seen ? Cite passages to defend 
your answer. 

8. " I dare not speak much further ; " — why ? Does this imply 
that Ross is already a fugitive ? 

9. " I '11 be here again " — implies that he came for what ? Does 
he know of Lady Macduff's danger ? 

10. " Father'd he is " — who ? How spoken ? 

11. "Why does the scene so affect Ross? 

12. Does " pitfall," line 35, seem to be a good word when used in 
connection with birds. 

13. How is this dialogue between the mother and her son a 
contrast ? 

14. How does it heighten the tragedy? 

15. What effect will it have upon the feelings of the audience 
towards Macbeth? 

16. Does the son seem to you to be drawn from life ? What do 
you infer as to his age ? 

17. " Enter a Messenger " — sent by whom ? How does he know 
of her danger ? 

18. He is to her a stranger, yet he knows perfectly well her stain- 
less character, wishes to warn her, and prays heaven to preserve her. 
Give your opinion as to who he was. 

19. What do you infer from the fact that the murderers the next 
moment enter the room ? 

20. " What are these faces ? " — why the word " faces." 

21. Comment on Lady Macduff's words to the murderer and 
her complaints of her husband earlier in the scene. 

22. Would you expect the son's retort after hearing his prattle 
to his mother concerning the nature of a traitor? 

23. What is gained by having the audience see the murder of 
the child ? 

24. Why did the murderer call him " young fry of treachery ! "? 

25. Was it natural for the mother to run away with her child's 
dying screams in her ears ? Why did she ? 

26. What is lost by cutting out this scene, as is usually done by 
the modern stage ? 

27. What is the main purpose of the scene ? 



132 MACBETH. [ACT IV. 



Scene III. 

1. What estimate have you formed of Malcolm's character and 
personality before this scene ? 

2. Are his opening words what you would expect? 

3. What contrast is given ? 

4. "Each morn new widows howl" — yet as far as we know 
Macduff really knows of how many murders done by Macbeth? 
Why the word " howl " ? 

5. How should line 8 be inflected ? 

6. Rewrite in your own words the four lines opening with " What 
I believe I '11 wail." Explain what is meant. 

7. "It may be so perchance," — why does he doubt Macduff's 
word? Comment fully. (IV, iii, 40.) 

8. "You have lov'd him well; he hath not touch'd you yet;" 
therefore — fill out this implied conclusion. 

9. What irony in line 14? Explain how the audience know 
more than the actors. What other cases of this? 

10. In what tone would Macduff utter the words, "I am not 
treacherous"? 

11. The thought implied in Malcolm's answer is, " True, you are 
not treacherous, but Macbeth is, therefore " — supply the conclu- 
sion that was in Malcolm's mind. 

12. Comment on the fact that Malcolm voices grave suspicions 
with one breath, and begs pardon with the next. 

13. The substance of Malcolm's speech is, "I cannot read you; 
you look innocent, but I am afraid to trust in externals." Comment 
on this in the light of what we know of his father. 

14. " I have lost my hopes " — why? What were they? 

15. What was the chief cause of Malcolm's suspicions of Mac- 
duff? 

16. Was Malcolm's question in line 26 a natural one? What 
answer to the question could Macduff, if pressed for one, make? 

17. What light do lines 31-38 throw upon his character and 
motives ? 

18. " Thou," "thee," and " thy," in lines 33 and 34, refer respec- 
tively to whom? Explain the meaning. 

19. Did Macduff know before this of Edward's offer of " goodly 
thousands " ? 



SCENE III.] STUDIES. 133 

20. Comment on the careless, off-hand way in which Malcolm 
speaks of himself as sure to win . 

21. What effect would this have had on Macduff had he really 
been a "villain " and a secret agent of Macbeth? 

22. Malcolm declares that should he become king he would sur- 
pass even Macbeth in cruelty: knowing him as he did, how would 
such a statement strike Macduff ? What is the substance of his 
answer ? 

23. Had Macbeth all the faults enumerated in lines 57-59 ? Cite 
passages and instances to show how many of these seven adjectives 
really belonged to him. What other adjectives would you add to 
the list? 

24. Do you think that Macbeth was comparatively pure when we 
were first introduced to him, and that he had developed these vices 
in the meantime? 

25. Why did Malcolm's avowal of intemperance not alarm 
Macduff? 

26. He does not wholly despair even when Malcolm declares 
that he has a " stanchless avarice." Why ? He is willing to bear 
this under what conditions ? 

27 . Has Macbeth at any time since we have known him had any of 
these twelve " king-becoming graces " ? Cite illustrations if possible. 

28. How many of them had Duncan? Cite passages. 

29. Name the antonym of each of these adjectives, and apply as 
many as possible to Macbeth. 

30. Point out that in maligning his own character Malcolm 
worked toward a climax. 

31. Remembering how Macduff is the only man who by the de- 
cree of fate can harm Macbeth, point out how lines 102-114 are a 
kind of crisis. 

32. Had Macduff after hearing Malcolm's charges against him- 
self, and believing them, declared that, notwithstanding it all, he 
would stand by him, what would have been the result ? Why ? 

33. Why should his words have " wip'd the black scruples" 
from Malcolm's soul ? Do you consider them as proof enough of 
Macduff's honesty ? 

34. Do you think that Malcolm's ruse for testing the honesty of 
Macduff was an awkward one? Do you consider it clever? 

35. "Devilish Macbeth by many of these trains," etc. What 



134 MACBETH. [ACT IV. 

new light does this throw on Malcolm's extreme caution ? On 
Macbeth's tireless activity ? 

36. How does it give a little hint as to the time that has elapsed 
since the murder of Duncan? 

37. If Malcolm's estimate of himself in lines 125-132 is true, 
and we must accept it as the truth, what of your previous esti- 
mates of the man? What has led you to misjudge him ? 

38. Why did not Shakespeare give him a stronger character at 
first? Compare with his treatment of Macbeth. 

39. Which of Malcolm's qualities were evidently inherited? 

40. Why was Macduff " silent " ? Will it take much argument to 
make him accept this " welcome " news? What if he does not ? 

41. Why this episode of the doctor? Does it advance the plot? 

42. Contrast the picture of the good King Edward with that of 
Macbeth. 

43. Why did Malcolm not immediately recognize Ross, as did 
Macduff? 

44. What is your opinion of the suggestion by one critic that 
Ross had perhaps grown old since Malcolm had left Scotland? 

45. " I know him now." " The passage is very delightful," 
says Hudson. Why? 

46. Has Macbeth committed murders of which we know noth- 
ing, or did Macduff, in lines 4-8, and Ross, in lines 165-173, simply 
exaggerate the murders of which we know? 

47. Why "relation too nice"? Is Ross anything like Polonins 
in HnmJpt ? 

48. Why does Ross not tell Macduff the truth at once? 

49. " I have heavily borne " — why ? 

50. What was doubtless the immediate cause of the revolt in 
Scotland (line 183) and Ross's desertion? 

51. The meaning of lines 184, 185 seems to be that though he had 
heard only rumor concerning the revolt, the fact that he had seen 
the tyrant's power afoot seemed to confirm this rumor. Saw it 
before his desertion or after ? Do you gather from this that 
Macbeth has perhaps taken the field in person ? Would you ex- 
pect him to do so ? 

52. " I guess at it " — shows that he feared for his family's safety, 
but went away nevertheless. 

53. Comment on Macduff's behavior after hearing the dreadful 



SCENE III.] STUDIES. 135 

news. Do you think he would have turned away from Malcolm 
as he threatened (line 113) in spite of his later protestations, had it 
not been for the murder of his family? 

54. Show how Malcolm tries to turn the grief and anger of 
Macduff toward the general good. 

55. " He has no children " — who ? A natural remark ? 

56. Comment on the words "hell-kite," "chickens," "swoop." 

57. " Like a man." Show how these words have been through- 
out the play the most potent goad to action, good and bad. 

58. Would any other argument, in your opinion, have aroused 
Macduff from his stupor of grief? 

59. Was it the insane massacre of Macduff's family that finally 
ruined Macbeth ? Explain fully. 

60. " Macbeth is ripe for shaking." Show how this is the key- 
note of Act IV. What do you expect in Act V ? 

61. Of what old proverb are you reminded by the last line ? 

62. Show how this long scene has retarded the movement of the 
play. 

63. What of the fact that during the greater part of this Act, 
which is in most dramas the most intense and vital, the title 
character is but a short time on the stage ? 

64. What effect in your estimation would this scene have upon 
an audience ? 

65. Do you agree with the critic who accounted for the long 
scene by saying that it was to " supplement the meagre facts given 
thus far to Malcolm and Macduff "? How do you account for the 
tedious scene ? 

REFERENCES FOR ACT IV. 

Scene I. 

Weiss, quoted by Sprague, 41. Dowden, quoted by Sprague, 42, 
and Hudson, 123. Corson, 233-242. 
69. Upton, quoted by Furness, 207. 

Scene II. 

Arden, 130. Coleridge, 78, quoted by Furness, 226 ; also, Furness, 
218-219. 

66. Heath, quoted by Hudson, 133. 



136 MACBETH. [act V. 



Scene III. 

Ransome, 109-113. Arden, 132. Coleridge, 79. Moulton, 140. 

50. Arden, 133. 
140. Furness, 242. 
116. Hudson, 145. Coleridge, 379 ; quoted by Furness, 252. 



ACT V. 

Scene I. 



1. Contrast "the stormy close of the preceding act" with the 
" placid calm of this chamber." 

2. What is implied by the fact that there is a doctor at the 
castle? What, by the fact that he is accompanied by a gentle- 
woman ? 

3. "Since his majesty went into the field."- Steevens calls this 
" one of Shakespeare's oversights. He forgot that he had shut up 
Macbeth in Dunsinane and surrounded him with besiegers." He 
quotes V, v, 2-7. What is your opinion of this criticism? 

4. She has not walked for two nights, and she has done her 
walking since his majesty took the field. Comment on the length 
of Macbeth's absence. 

5. Why did she not walk before her husband took the field? 

6. To the doctor's question, " When was it she last walked? " she 
answered, " Since his majesty went into the field," etc. May we 
infer that she had walked before he went away? Why is it im- 
portant to determine this question ? 

7. "Take forth paper " — signifying what? "A reminiscence 
of the letter which she received from Macbeth " ? An attempt " to 
get rid of her secret by committing it to paper " ? 

8. "Perturbation," " slumbery agitation " — comment on the 
doctor's rhetoric. Natural? 

9. " You may to me " — why to me 1 

10. Why will the woman not tell what Lady Macbeth has said ? 
Is the reason that she gives the true one ? 

11. How does the woman know that she is fast asleep, — her eyes 
are open, and she carries a light ? 






SCENE I.] STUDIES. 137 

12. "How came she by that light?" How spoken? Why 
should he want to know ? 

13. " It stood by her " — when ? 

14. Why should she want light by her continually ? 

15. Note the questions of the doctor. Are they what you would 
expect ? 

16. How could she rub her hands and carry the light? 

17. " I have known her to continue in this a quarter of an hour " 
— comment on this in the light of II, ii, 67. 

18. " Yet here 's a spot " — spoken how ? 

19. " I will set down what comes from her." Why ? Curiosity ? 
For material for a thorough diagnosis? How could her spoken 
words be of use in a diagnosis of her disease ? 

20. " One : two : " —refers to what ? 

21. " Hell is murky ! " Is she uttering her own dread of the 
future, or echoing some of her husband's words at the time of the 
murder? If the former, what light does it throw on our study of 
her character? During this scene, does she utter any words not 
echoes of the past ? If she is echoing her husband, how about 
I, vii, 7? Should it be punctuated, "Hell is murky? Fie, my 
lord," etc. ? 

22. When did she see the blood of Duncan ? 

23. "Do you mark that?" Why did he ask this? Was the 
question a professional one ? 

24. " You mar all with this starting " — a remembrance of what 
scene ? 

25. " You have known what you should not " — spoken to whom ? 

26. " The smell of the blood " — comment on this exquisite art 
stroke. 

27. " This little hand " — why little hand? Do you infer, as some 
have done, that this proves that Lady Macbeth was a small, delicate 
woman ? Might she not have said little hand in contrast with " all 
the perfumes of Arabia"? 

28. How should the " Oh, oh, oh ! " be spoken ? 

29. " Well, well, well " — meaning what ? What does the gentle- 
woman understand by the words ? A touch of nature ? 

■ 30. "I have known those which have walked in their sleep," etc. 
Why did he add this ? Out of consideration for any in his audiences 
that might be somnambulists ? 



138 MACBETH. [ACT v. 

31. "Banquo 's buried ; " etc. — Is she repeating something that 
she had formerly said to Macbeth at the banquet? Some contend 
that the word " Duncan " should be used instead. Why? Your 
opinion? 

32. "Even so?" — Why does the doctor ask this question? 

33. "Directly" — does the gentlewoman's knowledge of Lady 
Macbeth's habits imply that she usually ended her sleep-walking 
with this re-enactment of the terrible knocking scene? 

34. If so, would this imply that of all her terrors this was the 
one that made the most impression? 

35. "Foul whisperings" — why whisperings? About what? 
And yet "many worthy fellows " are out. 

36. " Means of all annoyance " — meaning what? 

37. Comment on the fact that in this brief scene she touches all 
the key-words of the tragedy, — " blood,"" "afeard," "What 's done 
cannot be undone," etc. 

38. Ts sleep-walking usually one of the accompaniments of 
remorse ? 

39. Count all the sentences spoken by Lady Macbeth that con- 
tain allusions in any way to Macbeth's three murders. How many 
connected with the murder of Duncan? Of Banquo? Of Macduff's 
family? Comment. 

40. How long has it been since the murder of Duncan ? 

41. Why is this most intense scene of the play, and indeed of 
all Shakespeare's plays, written in prose? 

42. Try to put the scene into the usual Shakespearean verse-form, 
making no changes not absolutely necessary. 

43. Compare the Lady Macbeth of this scene with the Lady 
Macbeth of Acts I and II. What has wrought the change? (200 
words.) 

Scene II. 

1. Have we seen Menteith and Caithness before? Why are 
they introduced here near the end of the play, and given speaking 
parts ? 

2. What force is this ? Who do you infer is leader? 

3. " The good Macduff " — where has this adjective been applied 
to him before ? 

4. Why does Caithness inquire concerning Donalbain? 



SCENE III.] STUDIES. 139 

5. "A file of all the gentry" — meaning what? What do you 
infer from the fact that on consulting this file Lennox was able to 
say positively that Donalbain was not with Malcolm's army? 

6. Why had Malcolm so largely recruited his army with boys ? 

7. Do you infer that " Great Dansinane " was another name for 
the royal palace ? Yet where was the palace*? 

8. How do the words " Birnam," in line 5, and " Dunsinane," 
in line 12, prepare the audience for the fulfillment of the witches' 
prophecy ? 

9. " Some say he 's mad " — do you? 

10. Explain the figure in lines 14-16. 

11. Where have we seen Angus before? 

12. " Minutely revolts " — comment. 

13. " Faith-breach " — with whom ? 

14. " To recoil and start " — an allusion perhaps to what ? Any 
particular occasion, or was recoiling and starting so habitual with 
him now that all had noted it ? 

15. What is the object of this scene? 

16. What picture does it give us of Macbeth? 

Scene III. 

1. When did we see Macbeth last ? How much time has elapsed 
since then ? 

2. What reports has Macbeth just received ? 

3. Why is the doctor present ? 

4. To whom does Macbeth speak the opening lines ? 

5. " The spirits that know all mortal consequences." Do you 
think that he had implicit faith in the witches ? (V, iv, 8 ; v, 42, 43.) 
Comment on the fact that he now boasts openly of their predictions 
and freely tells the grounds of his confidence. 

6. Comment on the irony of the scene. Do the audience share 
his confidence in the predictions? 

7. "False thanes" — alluding to whom? Why " English epi- 
cures " ? 

8. What change in Macbeth since last we saw him ? 

9. Do you infer that he has grown irascible, and that he was 
constantly in something like the state of mind represented here, or 
was his rage in this scene an unusual case brought on by the news 



140 MACBETH. [ACT V. 

of the desertion of his thanes and the approach of the English 
army ? 

10. Why should the mere sight of the servant have set him into 
such a towering rage ? 

11. What did the servant fear? 

12. Enumerate the "various expressions used by Macbeth to in- 
dicate that the messenger was white from fear. Where else has 
white been used as typical of fear? Why "black," in line 11? 

1.3. " Take thy face hence," — why "face " ? 

14. How should lines 10, 20 be read? Does he call Seyton, and 
receiving no answer, soliloquize for a moment, only to call again 
for his attendant ; or does he say, " Seyton, I'm sick at heart, when 
I behold — ," and then, perceiving that Seyton was not present, in- 
terrupt himself to call impatiently for him? 

15. "When I behold" — what? Why does he not go on with 
his first thought after calling the second time for Seyton ? 

16. Do you think of Macbeth as old? Was he old in Act I? 
How do you account for this allusion to "old age "? 

17. What light does this soliloquy throw upon our study of 
Macbeth's inner life? 

18. Quote instances where Macbeth had himself given "mouth- 
honour." 

19. " And dare not " — why? 

20. Is this Seyton's first entrance ? " Which was reported " — 
by whom? How did Seyton know what had been reported? 
" Confirm'd " — by whom ? 

21. Do Macbeth's words in line 32 spring from his old-time 
martial spirit? from desperation? from over-confidence? from 
madness? from fury of passion? 

22. Why will he put on his armor before it is needed ? 

23. " Skirr the country round " — for what? Why hang those 
that talk of fear, if he has perfect confidence in the prediction of 
the witches ? 

24. Why should he fall into such a panic if he thoroughly 
believes this prophecy? 

25. Do you think that he is himself afraid ? 

26. What do you infer as to the condition of the servants, from 
the fact that he calls for the second time for his armor? Do you 
find any reasons for believing that he had become so irascible and 



SCENE IV.] STUDIES. 141 

changeable of late that his servants hesitated in obeying his com- 
mands at the first order, thinking perhaps he would countermand 
them the next moment ? 

27. Why at this point address the doctor ? Do you take it that 
this is the doctor's first report to Macbeth ? 

28. Does Macbeth ask the question of lines 40-15 for informa- 
tion? Why did he ask it? 

29. " A mind diseas'd." Do you infer that he considered Lady 
Macbeth insane ? 

30. Is he thinking alone of his wife when he speaks these lines ? 
Comment fully. 

31. Do you infer from line 48 that the attendants had not yet 
obeyed him concerning the armor ? Do you think that he made a 
violent gesture in the preceding line which drove the armorer away 
for a moment? 

32. " Sey ton send out " — for what? Line 35. 

33. Does Seyton flee at this point? Does he obey Macbeth's 
fragmentary command and go out ? Yet who were the thanes that 
flee from him ? 

34. "Come, sir, dispatch" — spoken to whom? 

35. " Pull 't off, I say " — spoken to whom ? 

36. What, after all, is the most important matter in Mac- 
beth's mind, Lady Macbeth's condition or the scouring of the 
English hence? 

37. " Hear'st thou of them " — a natural touch? Comment. 

38. " Bring it after me " — what ? 

39. Make a study of the doctor as revealed in the first and third 
scenes of this Act. 

40. Contrast the mental condition of Lady Macbeth in scene i 
with that of Macbeth in this scene. 

41. Comment on the condition of Macbeth as here revealed. 

42. What contrast between scene ii and scene iii ? 

Scene IV. 

1. How much time between scenes ii and iii? between iii 
and iv? 

2. How comes it that Menteith, Lennox, etc., are now a part of 
Malcolm's army? 

3. " Chambers will be safe " — an allusion to what ? Midnight 



142 MACBETH. [ACT v. 

murders? Spies? Assassination of women and children in their 
homes ? 

4. Why did Malcolm wish his soldiers to carry boughs, — to 
make his army look larger than it really was? To conceal their 
numbers? To give uncertainty? 

5. "The confident tyrant" — confident in what respect? 
Since the thanes had been impressed by Macbeth's confident man- 
ner, what would you infer as to the frequency of such displays as 
that in scene iii? 

C. Why does Si ward express a sort of surprise that Macbeth 
will endure a siege? Why "endure"? What would he expect 
him to do ? 

7. What is accomplished by this short scene? 

8. How is it the beginning of the final catastrophe? 

9. Comment on the effect of short scenes when rapid action is 
required. 

Scene V. 

1. What interval between scenes? 
' 2. What traces in lines 1-7 of the Macbeth of Act 1? Why 
does Shakespeare try to keep alive even to the end some little 
sympathy with Macbeth? 

3. Do you infer from the clause beginning " Were they not 
forc'd," etc., that he had despaired of victory ? What is the most 
that he hopes? 

4. Why does Seyton go out immediately after answering 
Macbeth's question? 

5. " A night-shriek " — was it night ? 

6. "The time has been," etc. — when? In his boyhood? 
Before his career of murder ? 

7. Do you infer from this that he was naturally tender-hearted ? 
That he was naturally of a sensitive nature? That he was super- 
stitious? 

8. Does Macbeth receive Seyton's message as you would expect 
him to? Why does he not break out into lamentations? Com- 
pare with Macduff's conduct on the receipt of similar news. 

9. Point out the fatalism of his words. 

10. Show how Macbeth has paid the extremest penalty that 
can come in this life as the reward for a career of crime. 



SCENE VII.] STUDIES. 143 

11. How long does it usually take a criminal to reach this con- 
dition ? Does the answer of this question throw any light on the 
length of time covered by the play ? 

12. "Out, out, brief candle" — addressed to what? His own 
life? Human life in general? To Lady Macbeth in the sense of 
" Well, your candle of life is out. Let it go " ? 

13. Point out two other allusions to the stage in this play. 

14. During this soliloquy, whom does he have most prominently 
in mind, Lady Macbeth or himself ? 

15. Delius, in a note on line 35, declares that " for dramatic pur- 
poses Shakespeare has here somewhat shortened the distance of 
twelve miles between Burnam and Dunsinane." Do you think so ? 
Explain fully. 

16. Is the fact that the servant could see for three miles consist- 
ent with the supposition that it was night ? 

17. "I pull in resolution, and begin to doubt" — for the first 
time? 

18. Comment on the words of Macbeth in the light of Banquo's 
warning, I, iii, 122-126. 

19. Do any elements of manhood still survive in Macbeth? 

20. Any sympathy on your part for him? "Would you expect 
to have a single spark of sympathy for one who has become such a 
monster of wickedness ? 

21. Why does Shakespeare not make us utterly loathe Macbeth? 

22. What is the chief thing accomplished by this scene ? 

Scene VI. 

1. What is the need of this short scene ? 

2. What signs to show that the end is near? Is there any 
doubt as to what will be the result ? What will it be? Why? 

Scene VII. 

1. " I cannot fly " — implying that he would if he could ? 

2. Comment on the fact that he is still trusting in the proplu c 
of the witches. 

3. Do you infer that young Siward was the foremost man in 
the English van, or that he was the first who happened to fall in 
with Macbeth? Comment on his rashness. 



144 MAC BETH. [ACT V. 

4. Do the audience expect Macbeth to be slain by young 
Siward? 

5. For what is Macbeth now fighting? For what was he 
fighting in Act I ? 

6. Are you ready for his death? Do you feel that he ought to 
be tortured and butchered for his fearful crimes, or do you feel that 
his death is a " horrible necessity," to be done as quickly and as 
unostentatiously as possible? 

7. Was the death of young Siward an artistic necessity? How 
does it help ? 

8. Does this deed of arms make Macbeth for the moment more 
or less hateful to you ? 

9. Why kill young Siward on the stage? Judging from other 
murders in this play, was it to add to or detract from the horror of 
the deed? 

10. What effect on the audience from the fact that no sooner 
does Macbeth, boasting of his invulnerability, leave on one side of 
the stage, than Macduff, " breathing out threaten! ngs and slaughter," 
appears on the other? 

11. " Will haunt me still " — why " still " ? Is he doing this deed 
simply to lay the ghosts of his murdered family? 

12. "By this great clatter" — do you infer that Macbeth is 
fighting with his old-time fury, or is he attended by a strong 
escort that would account for the clatter? 

13. What has been accomplished by the scene? 

Scene VIII. 

1. " Roman fool " — allusion to whom? 

2. Cannot Macbeth see how the battle is going as well as can 
Malcolm and Siward ? Why then does he not despair ? What can 
he still hope? 

3. When an army is completely overcome, one of what three 
things must happen to the king in command ? 

4. Describe the appearance of Macduff as you imagine it when 
he swooped down upon Macbeth. 

5. How does Macbeth receive him? Any trace of fear? 

6. " I have avoided thee " — why ? 

7. " But get thee back " — why does he say this? 



SCENE VIII.] STUDIES. 145 

8. " My soul is too much charg'd," etc. — a last paroxysm of 
conscience? Do you trace in it any note of regret? 

9. Where else in the play can you find him expressing any- 
thing like remorse for his crimes? 

10. Does Macbeth speak while they are still fighting, or does 
the first encounter end as a drawn battle, after which they pause 
for a moment and speak? 

11. Why does Macbeth tell of his fancied invulnerability? 

12. After hearing Macduff's answering words, and realizing that 
he has been duped by the witches, what had Macbeth left to nerve 
his arm? 

13. What is his last incentive? 

14. " Yet will I try the last " — anything praiseworthy in such 
a determination? Is it courage? "A natural physical boldness 
in the face of danger"? Sheer desperation? "A wild animal 
clinging to life "? A last glimmering of hope? A mad, senseless 
fury? 

15. Why is he not killed in sight of the audience? 

16. Which would please you more — to have him die in battle 
like a soldier, or captured and hanged as a murderer? 

17. " Retreat " — sounded by whom ? "Flourish " — sounded by 
whom? 

18. Do you infer that only one of Malcolm's men was killed in 
this battle? Are they counting only officers, perhaps? 

19. Contrast the two deaths in the scene. 

20. Do you think that the old soldier is concealing beneath 
brave words the great grief in his heart, or has he been so long a 
soldier that he can honestly talk in this way ? 

21. Compare line 55 with I, ii, 23. Comment. 

22. Point out the fact that line 59 is the real end of the play, 
and that the speech of Malcolm was probably added by another 
hand to please the " groundlings." 

23. What facts does the speech add? What weak elements? 

24. " His fiend-like queen " — is this the right adjective ? Do 
you think Shakespeare intended to represent her as " fiend-like " ? 
Might this, however, have been Malcolm's estimate of her? 

25. Comment on the idea of Lady Macbeth's suicide. Do you 
think that Shakespeare intended to end in this way? 

26. How much time has been covered by the Act? If the action 



146 MACBETH. 

has not been continuous from the first, where have the breaks 
been ? 

27. Comment on the headlong rapidity of the Act. Why should 
it need to be rapid ? (IV, iii, 237-239.) 

REFERENCES FOR ACT V. 

Scene I. 

Siddons, quoted by Furness, 419. Ransome, 112-114. Moulton, 
166. Arden, 137. Hudson, 43, 44. 
3. Steevens, quoted by Furness, 254. 

20. Bucknill, quoted by Hudson, 148. 

32. Clark and Wright, 165. Hudson, 148. Arden, 137. 

46. Verplanck, quoted by Furness, 257 ; Hudson, 149, and Arden, 
138. 

Scene III. 
Arden, 139. 

24. Clarke, quoted by Furness, 270. 

50. Clark and Wright, 172. 

Scene IV. 
8. Kemble, quoted by Sprague, 28. 

Scene V. 
Ransome, 115-117. 
15. Hudson, 40. 

17. Furness, 281. Hudson, 158. 
22. Hunter, quoted by Furness, 283. 
24. Birch, quoted by Furness, 284. 

28. Coleridge, 380 ; quoted by Hudson, 159. 
52. Dowden, 227 ; quoted by Hudson, 160. 

Scene VIII. 

Deighton, xxxviii. 

69. Maginn, quoted by Furness, 427. 

For time analysis of the play, see Rolfe, 257. 

For an admirable summary of Gervinus's contrast between the 
characters of Hamlet and Macbeth, see Deighton, 190. 

For an analysis of the elements in the characters of Lord and 
Lady Macbeth, see Deighton, 187-193. 



STUDIES. 



147 



GENERAL QUESTIONS. 

1. Give to each Act a title. For example, Act I may be entitled 
" The Temptation." 

2. The following diagram represents the general plan of one of 
Shakespeare's plays. Show how far Macbeth follows this plan. 
Where is the climax in Macbeth ? 




3. What three accidents help in the rise of Macbeth? What 
three in his decline ? 

4. What two characters in the first part of the play balance 
two in the last part? 

5. The meetings with the witches heralded what in each case? 

6. Is each of the crimes punished in the retribution, or only 
the last? 

7. Point out that Macbeth is presented to us at first in his most 
heroic aspect, and that he gradually declines until the audience 
consents to his death. In the light of this, comment on the treat- 
ment of Duncan, Lady Macbeth, Malcolm, and Macduff. 

8. Show that the drama works almost wholly by suggestion ; 
that scenes and characters are thrust forward with little ex- 
planation. What effect does this have on the movement of the 
play? 

9. Comment on the gradual decline of sympathy for Macbeth 
on the part of the audience. As Macbeth goes down, who goes 
up? 

10. What parts of the play are written in prose? Can you de- 
duce any general rule as to the use of prose by Shakespeare? 



148 MACBETH. 

11. Judging from this play, to what use does Shakespeare put 
external nature? 

12. Name twelve birds mentioned or alluded to in this play. 
How many are birds of ill omen? 

13. Quote all passages in which the owl is mentioned or alluded 
to. Also the raven. 

14. What three apparently supernatural visitations did Macbeth 
experience? To which did he give the most credit? To which, 
the least? Comment. 

15. What kind of people experience hallucinations? 

16. Go through the play and underline, preferably in red ink, 
the words " blood " and " bloody," which run like a scarlet thread 
through the entire drama. Underline also the words "fear" and 
" afraid," words that make the drama one prolonged shudder. 

17. The fear that seems to possess Macbeth from the moment 
of his first murder is a fear of what ? 

18. Can you account for all of Macbeth's career of crime after 
the first stroke in the light of this word? Comment. 

19. Show how Lord and Lady Macbeth were supplements of 
each other. 

20. Note each of Lady Macbeth's entrances. How many times 
does she come in alone? Do you infer that she is much alone? 
What light on her character? 

21. Write your estimate of the character of Lady Macbeth. 
(400 words.) 

22. Sum up in the same way the character of Macbeth. (400 words.) 

23. Gervinus speaks of the doctor, Seyton, and Ross as "imper- 
sonations of fear." Your opinion? 

24. Point out that Macduff is a man of few words save when 
greatly moved. 

25. Do you agree that his patriotism was stronger than anything 
else in his nature? Comment fully. 

26. Sum up the character of Banquo. Is he a perfect contrast 
to Macbeth ? 

27. The Banquo of history is represented as being an accomplice 
of Macbeth's. But Banquo was an ancestor of King James, before 
whom this play was to be enacted. Do you infer that Shakespeare 
had hard work to conceal the true nature of his Banquo? Cite 
passages to support your answer. 






STUDIES. 149 

28. Where else in the play are there evidences that it was de- 
signed to please King James ? 

29. Mention some of the supernatural agencies of the play, like 
monstrosities, superstitions, apparitions, omens, etc. Comment. 

30. Cite passages to prove that both Lord and Lady Macbeth 
were fatalists. 

31. Comment on what would have been the result if Ophelia in 
Hamlet and Lady Macbeth could have changed places? 

32. Would it have been possible to have laid the scene of this 
play elsewhere than in the Highlands of Scotland? Why? 

33. How much time has been covered by the action ? 

34. Make a table showing as far as possible the time which 
elapses between the scenes and acts of the drama. 

35. If Macbeth reigned seventeen years, as the Macbeth of his- 
tory actually did, between what scenes or acts can this time have 
elapsed ? 

36. Indicate by a curved line the rise and fall of interest 
on the part of the audience from the beginning to the end of 
the play. 

37. What is your curve during Act IY? Does this Act ex- 
plain why this drama has not been a perfect success as an 
acting play? 

QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIZING. 

" The earth hath bubbles as the water has." 

" And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, 
The instruments of darkness tell us truths, 
Win us with honest trifles, to betray 's 
In deepest consequence." 

" Present fears 
Are less than horrible imaginings." 

" Time and the hour runs through the roughest day." 

"Nothing in his life 
Became him like the leaving it." 



150 MACBETH. 

" If it were done when 't is done, then 't were well 
It were done quickly." 

" I dare do all that may become a man ; 
Who dares do more is none." 

" But screw your courage to the sticking-place, 
And we'll not fail." 

" The attempt and not the deed 
Confounds us." 

" The innocent sleep, 
Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care, 
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, 
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, 
Chief nourisher in life's feast." 

" The labour we delight in physics pain." 

" From this instant 
There 's nothing serious in mortality : 
All is but toys : renown and grace is dead ; 
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees 
Is left this vault to brag off." 

"Your spirits shine through you." 

" We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it." 

" Duncan is in his grave ; 
After life's fitful fever he sleeps well." 

" Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill." 

" Unsafe the while that we 
Must lave our honours in these flattering streams ; 
And make our faces vizards to our hearts, 
Disguising what they are." 

" Now, good digestion wait on appetite 
And health on both ! " 

" And you all know security 
Is mortal's greatest enemy." 



STUDIES. 151 

" Can such things be, 
And overcome us like a summer's cloud, 
Without our special wonder?" 

" Stand not upon the order of your going, 
But go at once." 

" But yet I '11 make assurance double sure, 
And take a bond of fate." 

" The flighty purpose never is o'ertook 
Unless the deed go with it." 

" Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell." 

" A good and virtuous nature may recoil 
In an imperial charge." 

" Boundless intemperance 
In nature is a tyranny ; it hath been 
Th' untimely emptying of the happy throne 
And fall of many kings." 

" The king-becoming graces, 
As justice, verity, temperance, stableness, 
Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness, 
Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude." 

" Where violent sorrow seems 
A modern ecstasy : the dead man's knell 
Is there scarce ask'd for who ; and good men's lives 
Expire before the flowers in their caps, 
Dying or ere they sicken." 

" The grief that does not speak 
Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break." 

" Unnatural deeds 
Do breed unnatural troubles : infected minds 
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets." 

" The night is long that never finds the day." 



152 MACBETH. 

" I have lived long enough : my way of life 
Is fall'n into the sere the yellow leaf." 

" Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd, 
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, 
Raze out the written troubles of the brain, 
And with some sweet oblivious antidote 
Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff 
Which weighs upon the heart?" 

" Therein the patient 
Must minister to himself." 

" Throw physic to the dogs, I '11 none of it." 

" I would applaud thee to the very echo 
That should applaud again." 

" To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, 
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, 
To the last syllable of recorded time, 
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
The w r ay to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle ! 
Life 's but a walking shadow ; a poor player 
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, 
And then is heard no more ; it is a tale 
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, 
Signifying nothing." 

" And be these juggling fiends no more believ'd, 
That palter with us in a double sense ; 
That keep the word of promise to our ear, 
And break it to our hope." 



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